2624: Voyager Wires - Revision history

Kynde: /* Explanation */

2026-02-08T18:00:51Z

‎Explanation

Kynde at 17:51, 8 February 2026

2026-02-08T17:51:47Z

Kynde: Category:News

2026-02-07T14:52:12Z

Category:News

172.69.130.235: grammar

2025-03-16T18:09:24Z

grammar

FaviFake at 16:43, 25 February 2025

2025-02-25T16:43:17Z

172.69.194.36: /* Explanation */

2024-04-16T13:34:36Z

‎Explanation

1234231587678 at 21:52, 15 April 2024

2024-04-15T21:52:40Z

172.71.223.9: /* Explanation */

2023-08-20T00:43:46Z

‎Explanation

162.158.235.92: /* Explanation */

2022-11-01T16:49:24Z

‎Explanation

172.69.62.71: /* Explanation */

2022-08-21T02:43:20Z

‎Explanation

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 ==Explanation==
-This is one of the [[:Category:News|News]] comics. It was the first where the news is written in a caption rather than in the title as it was with the first four News comics.
+This is one of the [[:Category:News|News]] comics, delivering sad news. It was the first where the news is written in a caption rather than in the title as it was with the first four News comics.
 This comic claims that the {{w|Voyager program|Voyager probes}} communicate with NASA though ridiculously long copper wires. These wires would have to be continuously lengthened as the probes travel away from {{w|Earth}}. Supposedly, because of "high copper prices and budget constraints," they may not be able to afford to lengthen the wires much longer. If this occurred, they would have to either cut the wires or let them break, which would prevent any further communication with the probes. In reality [https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/ they use radio waves], not long copper wires, so this doesn't actually happen.

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:51, 8 February 2026
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	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
		+	This is one of the [[:Category:News\|News]] comics. It was the first where the news is written in a caption rather than in the title as it was with the first four News comics.
		+
	This comic claims that the {{w\|Voyager program\|Voyager probes}} communicate with NASA though ridiculously long copper wires. These wires would have to be continuously lengthened as the probes travel away from {{w\|Earth}}. Supposedly, because of "high copper prices and budget constraints," they may not be able to afford to lengthen the wires much longer. If this occurred, they would have to either cut the wires or let them break, which would prevent any further communication with the probes. In reality [https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/ they use radio waves], not long copper wires, so this doesn't actually happen.		This comic claims that the {{w\|Voyager program\|Voyager probes}} communicate with NASA though ridiculously long copper wires. These wires would have to be continuously lengthened as the probes travel away from {{w\|Earth}}. Supposedly, because of "high copper prices and budget constraints," they may not be able to afford to lengthen the wires much longer. If this occurred, they would have to either cut the wires or let them break, which would prevent any further communication with the probes. In reality [https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/ they use radio waves], not long copper wires, so this doesn't actually happen.

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:52, 7 February 2026
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	{{comic discussion}}		{{comic discussion}}

		+	[[Category:News]]
	[[Category:Space probes]]		[[Category:Space probes]]

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 A few days before this comic was released, [https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/news/details.php?article_id=124 NASA had reported] receiving corrupted data from the Voyager 1 probe. The fact that they are receiving any data at all means that the attitude control system must be working (or else the antenna would not point at Earth), but they continue to investigate how that data could be corrupted after that point.
-{{spoiler|The following paragraphs contains spoilers for the first episode of the series ''{{w|Foundation (TV series)|Foundation}}'' and the {{w|Mars Trilogy}}.}}
+{{spoiler|The following paragraph contains spoilers for the first episode of the series ''{{w|Foundation (TV series)|Foundation}}'' and the {{w|Mars Trilogy}}.}}
 The consequence of a cable between a craft in space and a planetary location being suddenly retracted was recently imagined in the first episode of the Apple TV+ series ''{{w|Foundation (TV series)|Foundation}}'', wherein a {{w|space elevator}} tether was severed. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huRmvG3zRpg It didn't end well] for anyone other than the terrorists, who won the freedom of thousands of inhabited worlds which had formerly suffered under the jackbooted oppression of {{w|Trantor}}'s fascist galactic Empire regime. Another illustration in fiction of a severed space elevator is in Red Mars, part of the {{w|Mars Trilogy}} by Kim Stanley Robinson.

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 The title text references the phenomenon seen with self-retracting cables, such as are commonly found on vacuum cleaners, where the free end of the cable, where the plug is, oscillates more and more wildly as the cable approaches full retraction, leading to the danger of a painful rap on the hand if it is not withdrawn in time. A planet-sized impact of this kind could cause severe damage.{{Citation needed}}
-A few days before this comic was released, [https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/news/details.php?article_id=124 NASA had reported] receiving corrupted data from the Voyager 1 probe.  The fact that they are receiving any data at all means that the attitude control system must be working (or else the antenna would not point at Earth), but they continue to investigate how that data could be corrupted after that point.
+A few days before this comic was released, [https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/news/details.php?article_id=124 NASA had reported] receiving corrupted data from the Voyager 1 probe. The fact that they are receiving any data at all means that the attitude control system must be working (or else the antenna would not point at Earth), but they continue to investigate how that data could be corrupted after that point.
+{{spoiler|The following paragraphs contains spoilers for the first episode of the series ''{{w|Foundation (TV series)|Foundation}}'' and the {{w|Mars Trilogy}}.}}
-'''Spoiler alert'''
+The consequence of a cable between a craft in space and a planetary location being suddenly retracted was recently imagined in the first episode of the Apple TV+ series ''{{w|Foundation (TV series)|Foundation}}'', wherein a {{w|space elevator}} tether was severed. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huRmvG3zRpg It didn't end well] for anyone other than the terrorists, who won the freedom of thousands of inhabited worlds which had formerly suffered under the jackbooted oppression of {{w|Trantor}}'s fascist galactic Empire regime. Another illustration in fiction of a severed space elevator is in Red Mars, part of the {{w|Mars Trilogy}} by Kim Stanley Robinson.
 [[Black Hat]] has previously severed a space elevator tether using a pair of scissors in an [[697: Tensile vs. Shear Strength|earlier comic]].

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 The resulting wire would slow down the probes by drag unless the wire itself was actively suspended (i.e. accelerated) continuously as it was fed. The wire could not be used for any other mechanical purpose such as a {{w|Space elevator|space elevator}} for this reason.
-Since the Earth spins, the wires would also spool around the Earth, slowing the probes down even further. [https://what-if.xkcd.com/157/ Clearly, this is not a good idea.] This problem might be avoided if the wires reached Earth at one of the poles. Or perhaps they could go to an airplane that flies around earth at exactly 15 degrees of longitude per hour, with periodic {{w|air-to-air refueling}}, so that it is always on the side of the earth facing the probe.
+Since the Earth spins, the wires would also spool around the Earth, slowing the probes down even further. [https://what-if.xkcd.com/157/ Clearly, this is not a good idea.] This problem might be avoided if the wires reached Earth at one of the poles. Or perhaps they could go to an airplane that flies around Earth at exactly 15 degrees of longitude per hour, with periodic {{w|air-to-air refueling}}, so that it is always on the side of the Earth facing the probe.
-Because the Voyager probes aren't in the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun, the Earth would not, in its rotation around the sun, drag these copper wires through the {{w|Sun}}. If it did, the wires would melt, as copper melts at around 1360 {{w|kelvin|K}}, while the Sun's surface is approximately 5700 K.
+Because the Voyager probes aren't in the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun, the Earth would not, in its rotation around the Sun, drag these copper wires through the {{w|Sun}}. If it did, the wires would melt, as copper melts at around 1360 {{w|kelvin|K}}, while the Sun's surface is approximately 5700 K.
-The title text references the phenomenon seen with self-retracting cables, such as are commonly found on vacuum cleaners, where the free end of the cable, where the plug is, oscillates more and more wildly as the cable approaches full retraction, leading to the danger of a painful rap on the hand if it is not withdrawn in time. A planet-sized impact of this kind could cause severe damage.{{citation needed}}
+The title text references the phenomenon seen with self-retracting cables, such as are commonly found on vacuum cleaners, where the free end of the cable, where the plug is, oscillates more and more wildly as the cable approaches full retraction, leading to the danger of a painful rap on the hand if it is not withdrawn in time. A planet-sized impact of this kind could cause severe damage.{{Citation needed}}
 A few days before this comic was released, [https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/news/details.php?article_id=124 NASA had reported] receiving corrupted data from the Voyager 1 probe.  The fact that they are receiving any data at all means that the attitude control system must be working (or else the antenna would not point at Earth), but they continue to investigate how that data could be corrupted after that point.

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:43, 20 August 2023
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	Another illustration in fiction of a severed space elevator is in Red Mars, part of the {{w\|Mars Trilogy}} by Kim Stanley Robinson.		Another illustration in fiction of a severed space elevator is in Red Mars, part of the {{w\|Mars Trilogy}} by Kim Stanley Robinson.
		+
		+	[[Black Hat]] severs a space elevator tether using a pair of scissors in an [[697:_Tensile_vs._Shear_Strength\|earlier comic]].

	==Transcript==		==Transcript==

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:49, 1 November 2022
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	==Explanation==		==Explanation==
−	{{incomplete\|Created by a WIRE CUT BECAUSE OF BUDG- are you there houston? it's me v----ger, you'll never guess what I found! Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
	This comic claims that the {{w\|Voyager program\|Voyager probe}}s communicate with NASA though ridiculously long copper wires. These wires would have to be continuously lengthened as the probes travel away from Earth. Supposedly, because of "high copper prices and budget constraints," they may not be able to afford to lengthen the wires much longer. If this occurred, they would have to either cut the wires or let them break, which would prevent any further communication with the probes. In reality [https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/ they use radio waves], not long copper wires, so this will not actually happen.		This comic claims that the {{w\|Voyager program\|Voyager probe}}s communicate with NASA though ridiculously long copper wires. These wires would have to be continuously lengthened as the probes travel away from Earth. Supposedly, because of "high copper prices and budget constraints," they may not be able to afford to lengthen the wires much longer. If this occurred, they would have to either cut the wires or let them break, which would prevent any further communication with the probes. In reality [https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/ they use radio waves], not long copper wires, so this will not actually happen.

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 Since the Earth spins, the wires would also spool around the Earth, slowing the probes down even further. [https://what-if.xkcd.com/157/ Clearly, this is not a good idea.] This problem might be avoided if the wires reached earth at one of the poles. Or perhaps they could go to an airplane that flies around earth at exactly 15 degrees of longitude per hour, with periodic air-to-air refueling, so that it is always on the side of the earth facing the probe.
-Because the Voyager probes aren't in the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun, the Earth would not, in its rotation around the sun, drag these copper wires through the sun. If it did, the wires would melt.
+Because the Voyager probes aren't in the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun, the Earth would not, in its rotation around the sun, drag these copper wires through the sun. If it did, the wires would melt.{{Citation needed}}
 The title text references the phenomenon seen with self-retracting cables, such as are commonly found on vacuum cleaners, where the free end of the cable, where the plug is, oscillates more and more wildly as the cable approaches full retraction, leading to the danger of a painful rap on the hand if it is not withdrawn in time. A planet-sized impact of this kind could cause severe damage.