/sci/ - Science & Math

>>11845343
>>11845380

Some time later

>A piece of metal lays in the snow
>It appears to be parts of Endurance’s Cabin, protected from much of the re entry heating due to its intact and multi-layered TPS
>A box with a glowing light still appears to be active
>On it’s surface is written ENDURANCE MAIN COMPUTER
>The computer sputters a bit, as error messages and NULL DATA warnings flood its system
>The light sputters a bit before going dark
>Endurance dies and the snow still falls and the stars above move unchanged by the futile conflicts fought by mere human beings.

How “alive” are space probes? They seem to be able to make a lot of decisions on their own.

The final description of Cassini’s plunge into Saturn piqued my interest.

>”Cassini hits the atmosphere”
>”As the atmosphere grows thicker, she fights to keep her antenna pointed at the Earth”
>Eventually her thrusters fail, and she meets her ultimate fate: becoming one with Saturn

I always imagined Cassinis final plunge looking like something out of Terminator, with her taking in data and getting a bunch of “WARNING WARNING” signals until finally the heat grew too strong and she shut down.

>SOL: 157
>WARNING: HEATER FAILURE
>WARNING: POWER SYSTEM FAILURE
>WARNING: SOLAR PANEL EFFICIENCY OFF NOMINAL
>WARNING: ELECTRONICS TEMPERATURE OFF NOMINAL
>WARNING: POWER SYSTEM FAILURE
>WARNING: MAIN BATTERY BANK FAILURE. SWITCHING TO AUXILLARY.
>WARNING: MEMORY BANK CRITICAL.
>WARNING: INSUFFICIENT POWER
>WARNING: AUXILIARY BATTERY BANK FAILURE
>WARNING: COMMUNICATIONS ANTENNA INSUFFICIENT POWER
>WARNING: COMMUNICATIONS INSUFFICIENT POWER

JPL: It’s been a long run my friend. From the planet earth, we thank you Phoenix. Rest now. You did a great job and we’re so proud of you.

>PHOENIX: TRUE/ACTUAL: SEND MESSAGE Y/N
>Y: MESSAGE : 01010100 01010010 01001001 01010101 01001101 01010000 01001000

>WARNING: MEMORY BANK FAILURE WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING
>WARNING: COMMUNICATIONS ARRAY: UNABLE TO SEND/RECEIVE SIGNAL FROM EARTH
>WARNING: CPU SHUTDOWN IMMINENT
>WARNNNNNN
>WARRNNNN
>WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
>WWWWW
>wwww
>w


“ Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.”