[cturner]

The second part of your comment is interesting. Can electronics be designed in a way so that it has a very long life?

The idea - hard-code information to silicon and preserve it. e.g. Chips on PCBs that are completely encased in substrate. Provide fused power prongs and a serial port interface to this. Future systems can integrate to this to consume the data.

[ajuc]

You just described cartridges like in C64 or some video game consoles :)

[pmjordan]

Can electronics be designed in a way so that it has a very long life?

NASA seem to be pretty good at that. I guess it's a question of cost more than anything else.

[brazzy]

The oldest stuff NASA has out there is what, 35 years old? Hardly a "very long life". And it's floating in vacuum, which is pretty much the ideal storage environment. Making stuff last in space is much easier than on Earth (and much easier than getting it there, of course).

[dwiel]

It seems that the high levels of radiation could make it much less than the ideal storage environment

[andrewflnr]

Plus temperature extremes.