from Hacker News

Space Shuttle teleprinter reverse engineering

by DAddYE on 3/20/24, 6:45 AM with 73 comments

  • by generj on 3/20/24, 12:46 PM

    I am fascinated they used 60 pounds and a large amount of space for this teleprinter. At 30K per pound of payload that is $1.8 million per flight. Really shows how important reliable printed updates were considered.

    And all the flaws of the printer that were managed around - turning it off to save power and prevent it overheating with specific tones.

  • by gooseyman on 3/20/24, 4:26 PM

    TIL a space shuttle printer will fetch $8,659 at auction.

    https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/34715670664982...

  • by perihelions on 3/20/24, 1:41 PM

    Wait, do normal printers need gravity to work? If I were to find one and flip it upside-down, would it continue functioning normally?

  • by eigenvalue on 3/20/24, 2:20 PM

    This is cool but it just makes me think the Shuttle was absurdly inefficient across the board. Why waste not just the launch weight but the engineering work on making such a specialized printer? Aren’t we talking about the late 70s/ early 80s? Surely there were commercially available printers that could have been substituted that would weigh less and wouldn’t have the overheating issues. Having unlimited government money is ultimately a curse for efficiency and performance.

  • by ajsnigrutin on 3/20/24, 3:03 PM

    There's a much simpler version of a communications 'printer' called Hellschreiber

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellschreiber

    Some old specimens still work, some new reproductions have been made, and it can also be simulated in software with various popular ham-radio programs.

    ...also, it's used by at least a few dozen hams every now and then :)

  • by marcodiego on 3/20/24, 1:15 PM

    X (twitter) is useless for threads unless you're logged in. How can I read this thread?