Just read NASA fixed a problem with Voyager which is interesting but it got me thinking- wouldn’t this be an easy target that some nations could hack and mess up since the technology is so old?
In: Technology
Part of the reason is *because* it’s so old. And because it’s so far away.
Right now there are very few (1 or 2) antennas on Earth that are both capable of sending a strong enough signal, and receiving such a weak signal from the Voyager Spacecraft, because they’re so far away. In fact, during 2020, there was an [11 month period where no one was able to send any commands to Voyager 2](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-deep-space-antenna-upgrades-to-affect-voyager-communications), because the only antenna capable of sending a signal to it was undergoing repairs and maintenance.
It’s not just signal strength and receiving sensitivity either. The communication protocols used to send and receive messages with Voyager are nearly 50 years old, and no longer commonly used. Not many people even know enough about the protocol to use or decode it.
It’s the ultimate in security by obscurity. To hack it you’d need hundreds of millions of dollars to construct the right antenna, put it in the right place, and then hire engineers who know this really rare and esoteric protocol to speak to it.
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