A signal has been picked up from the stranded Russian Mars probe.

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A signal has been picked up from the stranded Russian Mars probe. · 3

mk · 4753 days ago

There's something inherently cool about talking to a computer in space. I'd love to see what they use to communicate with the Voyager spacecraft.

It would be so painful to watch so many years of work burn up:

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/Phobos-Grunt_...

Oh, and on the rotifer theme, there are rotifers aboard Phobos-Grunt!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Interplanetary_Flight_Ex...

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caio · 4753 days ago · link ·

It seems that the Voyager 1 communication system includes a large parabolic high-gain antenna to communicate with the Deep Space Network on Earth. Communications are conducted over the S-band (13 cm wavelength) and X-band (3.6 cm wavelength) providing bandwidth as high as 115.2 kilobits per second. When the spacecraft is unable to communicate with Earth, the Digital Tape Recorder (DTR) can record up to 62,500 kilobytes of data for transmission when communication is reestablished. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1#Communications]

+discuss+discuss

caio · 4753 days ago · link ·

There have been concerns the fuel could freeze and spill on impact, although most experts believe it will likely stay liquid and burn up on re-entry. Come on, guys. Figure it out, that's kind of important.

Not just mere roitfers. The acanthocephala, according to recent genome analysis has shown that they are descended from, and should be considered as, highly modified rotifers.

Mutant extremophiles. Roscosmos doesn't fuck around.