Get the latest tech news
Voyager Spacecraft and Fortran 5
Voyagers NOT programmed in Fortran 5
( Linick and Weld's 1992 paper examines the streamlining of the prior sequencing process, as described in Adamski, for the Voyager Interstellar Mission, an effort that successfully met two goals, among others, of moving off the Univac mainframes and operating with greatly reduced personnel in the long term. Add to this the potentially serious consequences that could arise from any mistake in modifying the control law of the spacecraft, and one appreciates the fact that even seemingly simple changes can require extensive time for testing and experienced personnel for safe implementation.(pp. NASA is reportedly seeking a replacement fluent in FORTRAN, Algol and assembly language for the Voyagers' 250 KHz General Electric 18-bit TTL CPUs, complete with single register accumulator and bit-serial access to 4096-word plated-wire RAM.
Or read this on Hacker News