this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2025
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Bold claim, when electronics can't even last for 10 years in consumer devices.
tbf that's on purpose
No, it's just normal behavior. Soldering joints tend to break after a number of hot and cold cycles such as a PC that runs hot for 8h a day. The chemistry in capacitors breaks down after some years. Solid state drives, CDs, DVDs and magnetic storage also has a limited life. This also applies to parts that have never been used since they left the factory, it just happens because the chemistry inside degrades.
Voyager I and Voyager II begs to differ.
We are able to build things that last decades, we just don't want to do it.
I am not saying it is simple nor that we have all the tech yet, but we demonstrated it could be done.
Moreover, I think that people make a basic error when talking about generational ships: everyone think that it would be something like Star Trek or any other SciFi movie, but in reality it should be build to be maintenable without any external support so it must be simple, don't require high tech to function and redundant. So forget modern processors, the computer, like everything else, should be reparaible without any external assistance (and I agree that mayba a processor don't last anywhere near 400 years even if not used).
A generational ship is still a spaceship though, which requires a pretty high level of tech. You can't build a spaceship out of sticks and stones.
I suspect generational ships will have to be like small cities, with fairly advanced and extensive manufacturing capabilities.
It's called planned obsolence, and it is absolutely a common theme in consumer products. It's not exactly new either. We were taught about it in Design & Tech classes here in the UK.
That's not to say general wear and tear in soldered joints and so on doesn't also happen, of course it does. But often, this is seen as a feature, rather than an issue by the manufacturer, and thus becomes a part of the design, rather than something to improve upon.
When we were taught this some 20 years ago, I remember the teacher showing us one of these lemon juicers and pointing out the biggest design flaw was its lack of failure points. The likelihood is, it will last years; ensuring no repeat custom.... Stick a hinge on it like this one, and you've gone from a product that will be handed down a generation; to one that will likely fail after X amount of uses. Companies often test for X too, when designing, And will aim for a window slightly larger than any warranties, in order to protect themselves from having to pay out, but also giving the customer a false sense of security.
Sorry, but I don't believe in entropy.
I don't know, voyager is still working (although it had problems in the past). The plan is that they will produce new things in the way. It is a 400 year old journey after all.