Rescue of data from Pioneer 10 & 11 tapes at JPL needed. Vintage computers slated for demolition.

[Paul Koning]

>>>>> "Bill" == Bill Dawson <whdawson at localisps.net> writes:

 Bill> I came across this very interesting, on topic story about the
 Bill> detection of an anomalous acceleration, the need to recover
 Bill> data which "exists on a few hundred ancient 7- and 9-track
 Bill> magnetic tapes", and the imminent scrapping of the original
 Bill> computers at:

 Bill> http://www.planetary.org/news/2005/pioneer_anomaly1_0510.html

 Bill> ...Does anyone know what the "ancient computers" are and if a
 Bill> rescue of them from destruction is feasible?

Just because the computers are scrapped doesn't mean the data are
lost.  The article is unreasonably alarmist about that.  Then again,
the reason becomes obvious a few lines later -- the "act now" link
demonstrates that this is a "begging for money" gimmick.

One also wonders whether tapes "lodged under a staircase" are likely
to be important...

     paul