Maintaining legacy hardware isn’t easy when you’re in the same office. It’s a somewhat greater challenge when you’re updating a computer that is literally on the other side of the solar system.
That was the problem facing NASA recently, as the agency was forced to issue a software patch for Voyager 1, an unmanned probe launched in 1977, days after Elvis Presley died. Almost 50 years later, it’s just about functional while speeding through space, a mere 15 billion miles away.
As you might expect, the hardware is