Last Voyager programmer retires
October 30th, 2015 | Published in Uncategorized
Has Voyager 1 escaped the Sun yet? Yes, but also no, say boffins
Measuring [magnetic data from Voyager] when it arrives will also be just a little bit harder than it was last week, because the last original member of the Voyager team has retired. Larry Zottarelli, aged 80, left NASA’s employ this week after 55 years on the job. Zottarelli helped to develop Voyager’s on-board computers and has worked on the mission since 1975. CNN reports that he was sent on his way with a handshake from actress Nichelle Nicholls, Star Trek’s Lt. Uhura. 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 2096-word plated-wire RAM.