Voyager 1 is still transmitting from beyond the heliosphere on 22 watts — less power than the bulb in your hallway — and the engineers who built it in the 1970s never expected we'd still be listening half a century later.
spacedaily.com
On 17 April 2026, mission engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California sent commands to switch off the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment aboard Voyager 1. The instrument had been operating, almost without interruption, since the spacecraft left Cape Canaveral in September 1977. The shutdown was not a fault. It was the latest in a […]
    • Steve@communick.newsEnglish
      1·
      2 days ago

      It’s absolutely fantasy. No debate. So is Star Trek.

      Actual science fiction is like the recent Hail Mary. Everything is based on literal real science, with maybe one “what if” kind of stretch.

      • RicoBerto@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        I don’t know that i’d go that far. There is certainly debate on what constutes hard or soft sci-fi, but I’d say as long as the technology is either the focus, or is the main facilitator of the story then it’s more sci-fi. In star wars there is not much technology that is necessarily required, all of it could have been replaced with fantasy elements and it’s the same. It’s not a focus, whereas the expanse for instance relies upon the limitations of the technology to drive the plot.

        I don’t know could be talking out my ass, purely vibes based genre definition.