Startup: "Do you remember when we inserted this quirky module running in AWS? We can use that to implement this next feature. That was a useful decision!"

Voyager: "Do you remember when our parents inserted this quirky module that has since left the solar system? We can use that to turn it off and on again. That was a mission critical decision!"

that aws module isn't supported anymore though, we need to npm install half the internet for the 2 line library that replaces it.

Not parents for most of us. Grand or great-grandparents. The senior engineers were highly educated and experienced, implying ages 30-50s during development. They are in their 80-100s now.

When Voyager failed last year with a CMOS memory error, one of the big problems was that a bunch of low level information was gone or conflicting. For example, they sometimes had to guess assembler instructions because the code printouts were low quality photocopied pages. Or because there were handwritten comments or comments scratched out with pencil without any clue about why it was done.

One saving grace was the fact that the architecture and the code space was simple enough so that they could reason through the symptoms and actions to take, something that would have been much harder with modern spacecraft.

Check out this amazing talk: https://youtu.be/dF_9YcehCZo?si=W_b3NJ7vgxaYS1__

Thank you for this link!

This thing hits me. True.