NASA JPL’s Voyager Team Is Patching Up Both Voyagers’ Firmware

It’s not every day that you get to update the firmware on a device that was produced in the 1970s, and rarely is said device well beyond the boundaries of our solar system. This is however exactly what the JPL team in charge of the Voyager 1 & 2 missions are facing, as they are in the process of sending fresh firmware patches over to these amazing feats of engineering. These patches should address not only the attitude articulation and control system (AACS) issues that interrupted Voyager 1’s communication with Earth a while ago, but also prevent the thruster propellant inlet tubes from getting clogged up as quickly.

Voyager 2 is the current testbed for these patches, just in case something should go wrong despite months of Earth-based checking, testing and validation. As Voyager 1 is the furthest from Earth, its scientific data is the more valuable, but ideally neither spacecraft should come out worse for wear after this maintenance session.

The AACS fixes are more of an insurance policy, as the original cause of the issue was found to be that the AACS had entered into an incorrect mode, yet without a clear understanding of how this could have happened. With these changes in place, recovery should be much easier. Similarly, the changes to the use of the thrusters are relatively minor, in that they will mostly let the spacecraft drift a bit more out of focus before the thrusters engage, reducing total thruster firings and thus the build-up of material in these inlet tubes.

With these changes the antennae of both spacecraft should remain trimmed firmly towards the blue planet which they left over forty-five years ago, and enable them to hopefully reach that full half century mark before those of us who are still listening have to say our final farewells.

Custom Fume Hood For Safe Electroless Plating

There are plenty of chemical processes that happen commonly around the house that, if we’re really following safety protocols to the letter, should be done in a fume hood. Most of us will have had that experience with soldering various electronics, especially if we’re not exactly sure where the solder came from or how old it is. For [John]’s electroless plating process, though, he definitely can’t straddle that line and went about building a fume hood to vent some of the more harmful gasses out of a window.

This fume hood is pretty straightforward and doesn’t have a few of the bells and whistles found in commercial offerings, but this process doesn’t really require things like scrubbing or filtering the exhaust air so he opted to omit these pricier and more elaborate options. What it does have, though, is an adjustable-height sash, a small form factor that allows it to easily move around his shop, and a waterproof, spill-collecting area in the bottom. The enclosure is built with plywood, allowing for openings for an air inlet, the exhaust ducting, and a cable pass-through, and then finished with a heavy-duty paint. He also included built-in lighting and when complete, looks indistinguishable from something we might buy from a lab equipment supplier.

While [John] does admit that the exhaust fan isn’t anything special and might need to be replaced more often than if he had gone with one that was corrosion-resistant, he’s decided that the cost of this maintenance doesn’t outweigh the cost of a specialized fan. He also notes it’s not fire- or bomb-proof, but nothing he’s doing is prone to thermal anomalies of that sort. For fume hoods of all sorts, we might also recommend adding some automation to them so they are used any time they’re needed.

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Stage Lighting Hack Keeps La Bohème From Becoming A Dumpster Fire

With all due respect to the Utah Opera’s production of La bohème, we just couldn’t resist poking a little fun at master electrician [David Smith]’s quick lighting hack for the opera. And who knew an opera from 1896 would need a garbage can fire? Live and learn.

In what appears to be a case of “The show must go on,” [David] was called on to improve an existing fire effect for one scene in the opera, which was reportedly a bit “artificial and distracting.” This is a pretty common problem in live productions of all types; it’s easy to throw light at a problem, but it’s often hard to make it both convincing and unobtrusive. Luckily, he had both the time to come up with something, and a kit full of goodies to make it happen. A balled-up strip of Neopixels provided the light, with an Arduino running some simple code to randomize the intensity and color of the RGBs. [David] stuck with the warm white, red, and green colors, to keep the color temperature about right for a fire, and drove the LEDs with a couple of MOSFETs that he keeps in his kit to fix busted dimmer packs.

The overall effect worked well, but the holes knocked in the side of the greatly abused garbage can let too much light out, making the effect distracting on stage. The remedy was simple: a cylinder of printer paper surrounding the LED tape. The paper not only acted as a diffuser but held the tape in place inside the can. The electrical crew ran two circuits to the can — one to keep the Arduino running throughout the show, and one to power the LED tape. The former made sure the audience didn’t see the microcontroller boot sequence, and the latter gave the electrician a way to control the effect from the dimmer console. The brief video below shows it in action during a rehearsal.

Hats off to [David] and the whole crew for the stagecraft heroics and for getting this thrown together so quickly.

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Atomic Antenna Uses Lasers

If you think about it, an antenna is nothing more than a radio frequency energy sensor, or — more precisely — a transducer. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that there could be different ways to sense RF that would work as an antenna. A recent paper in Applied Physics Letters explains an atomic antenna comprised of a rubidium vapor cell.

The interesting thing is that the antenna has no electrical components in the antenna, and can be located far away from the actual receiver. Instead of coax cables, the signal is read with a laser.

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Bluetooth Device Visualizer Reveals Devices In Vicinity

Have you ever wondered how many Bluetooth devices are floating around you? You could use one of those creepy retail store Bluetooth tracking systems, or set your smartphone to scan. Alternatively, you could use the Bluetooth Devices Visualizer from [Jeremy Geppert].

The device was inspired by [Jeremy’s] trip to Hackaday Supercon 2022. Wanting to build something with LEDs that worked in a badge-like form factor, he set out on whipping up a device to scan and display a readout of Bluetooth devices in the immediate area.

The device is based on an ESP32 microcontroller, which provides the necessary Bluetooth hardware to scan for devices. It then displays the number of devices found using an 8 x 8 array of addressable LEDs. There is also a small OLED display on board for displaying relevant details to the device’s operation. The device neatly fits on a lanyard, and is more of an art project than anything else. It’s no wardriver, and details of devices found are not logged or stored in any way when the device is switched off.

With a variety of operational modes, it’s a fun way to get an idea of just how many Bluetooth devices are really out there these days. If you’ve got your own nifty Bluetooth hacks in the works, don’t hesitate to let us know!

 

PC Case Makes Portable Power Supply

Recently, we’ve seen a lot of semi-portable power stations. These have some big rechargeable battery and various connection options. [Dereksgc] wanted to make his own and decided the perfect housing would be a small PC tower case. (Video, embedded below.) It makes sense. There are plenty of easy-to-work front panel inserts, a power supply box with an AC cord (the power supply is long gone), and it is big enough to fit the battery. You can see the result in the video below.

The bulk of the work was installing power supply modules and a charge controller on floppy disk blank panels. The battery — a 50 Ah LiFePO4 unit — fits nicely in the bottom. Some of the buttons and connectors find use in the new incarnation.

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Building A Robot Bartender For Amazon

[Audax] built an unassuming side table with a party trick. It could retract a glass inside and fill it up with bourbon. The nifty device gained plenty of positive attention online, leading to a commission from Amazon to build a new version. Thus, [Audax] set about a redesign to create an even more impressive drink delivery system. (Video, embedded below.)

The story is very much one of refinement and optimization, focusing on the challenges of building a customer-facing device. With just six weeks to create the new rig, [Audax] had to figure out how to make the machine sleeker and more compact for its debut at a special event. To achieve this, he eschewed the original frame design made of aluminium extrusion, going for a 3D-printed design instead. The wire nest of the original version was then subsequently eliminated by an outsourced PCB design. Other new features included a mobile app for control and an easier way to adjust pour size, for bigger or smaller drinks as desired. For ease of use, activation is via an Amazon Alexa Skill.

As is so often the way, a last minute hurdle came up, prompting [Audax] to fly to Seattle to troubleshoot the rig on site. Nevertheless, the automatic drink server came good in the end, and delivered on its promise. Video after the break.

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