I came across this very interesting, on topic story about
the detection of an anomalous acceleration, the need to
recover data which "exists on a few hundred ancient 7- and
9-track magnetic tapes", and the imminent scrapping of the
original computers at:
http://www.planetary.org/news/2005/pioneer_anomaly1_0510.html
A snippet from the article:
"With the spacecraft now silent, we cannot expect future data,
so we must look to the past. In fact, there are hundreds of
tapes containing data taken before 1987, when the spacecraft
were between 10 and 40 AU from the Sun. This data from the time
the Pioneers were still in the midst of this planetary realm
could be crucial to solving the anomaly.
Unfortunately, this data is stored on hundreds of ancient
nine-track tapes, now lodged under a staircase at JPL. The tapes
can only be read by equally ancient computers, giants compared
to modern machines, which are slated for demolition. We must
transfer this data to more modern media readable by up-to-date
computers, but time is running out."
Are there any list members interested in assisting in the transfer
of this data to "more modern media"?
Does anyone know what the "ancient computers" are and if a rescue
of them from destruction is feasible?
Regards,
Bill Dawson
http://www.swtpc.com
whdawson