Space Shuttle teleprinter reverse engineering

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

TIL a space shuttle printer will fetch $8,659 at auction.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rrauction.com&#x2F;auctions&#x2F;lot-detail&#x2F;347156706649821-space-shuttle-teleprinter&#x2F;?cat=0" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rrauction.com&#x2F;auctions&#x2F;lot-detail&#x2F;34715670664982...</a>

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

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&#x2F; 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.

There&#x27;s a much simpler version of a communications &#x27;printer&#x27; called Hellschreiber<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hellschreiber" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hellschreiber</a><p>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.<p>...also, it&#x27;s used by at least a few dozen hams every now and then :)

X (twitter) is useless for threads unless you&#x27;re logged in. How can I read this thread?