"Vance Roos" wrote in message...
FROM THE ECONOMIST (see extract below).

Is it really true or even almost true when the article states this?

"in one of the most remarkable feats in the history of computer
science, Galileo's operators completely reprogrammed the craft's
computers to take advantage of modern data-compression methods."

I don't know what was involved but if anyone has any views they would
be interesting to hear.

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Hi Vance,

Well The Economist's writers really know a lot about computers, don't they?
:-) Journalists do this sort of sensationalisation out of habit probably -
can you imagine what talking to one of them away from their work would be
like?

They just reprogrammed some of the computers - I don't wish to belittle the
work of the clever people involved, but that's not miraculous. I believe
something of a similar magnitude was done with the Voyager 2 probe at Uranus
& Neptune, to get around the fact that the cameras wouldn't operate well so
far from the sun... but I'm sure someone here recalls the details better
than I.

Basically it sounds like the hardware they choose to send up is always
capable of being reprogrammed from the ground - probably an extra expense,
but a wise precaution.