Aging spacecraft starts up a radio transmitter it hasn't used since 1981 from 15 billion miles away

[sarisataka]

Aging spacecraft starts up a radio transmitter it hasn’t used since 1981 from 15 billion miles away

The 47-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft is back in touch with NASA — but not out of the woods — after a technical issue caused a days-long communications blackout with the historic mission, which is billions of miles away in interstellar space.

Voyager 1 is now using a radio transmitter it hasn’t relied on since 1981 to stay in contact with its team on Earth while engineers work to understand what went wrong.

As the spacecraft, launched in September 1977, ages, the team has slowly turned off components to conserve power, allowing Voyager 1 to send back unique science data from 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away.

The probe is the farthest spacecraft from Earth, operating beyond the heliosphere — the sun’s bubble of magnetic fields and particles that extends well beyond Pluto’s orbit — where its instruments directly sample interstellar space.

The new issue is one of several the aging vehicle has faced in recent months, but Voyager’s team keeps finding creative solutions so the storied explorer can zoom along on its cosmic journey through uncharted territory.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/01/science/voyager-1-transmitter-issue/index.html

[sinkingfeeling]

1. We believed in science back in 1977.

[Solly Mack]

2. (Solly whispers V'Ger)

K&R

[Stuckinthebush]

8. I did too!

First thing I said in that robotic voice. V Ger

[Solly Mack]

9. It was only logical. :)

[WinstonSmith4740]

16. The absolute 1st thought that came into my head...

"This is SO Star Trek"

[Solly Mack]

19. It is! I got a little thrill reading it.

[murielm99]

29. Yes. V'Ger.

[Solly Mack]

32. :)

[electric_blue68]

31. Those who know, know...

[Solly Mack]

33. Heh!

[RecoveringJournalist]

55. Endorsed

On behalf of the late Persis Khambatta, God rest her soul, I approve this post.

[Solly Mack]

56. Gone too soon.

[MuseRider]

57. First thought!

[Solly Mack]

58. Yep! How could it not be? (for those of us of a certain age and of certain likes)

Hey Muse!

[MuseRider]

61. Hey back!

I hope all is going well with you even with all this mess.

[Enter stage left]

3. And remember...

The warranty was 5 years or 50,000 miles.

[lastlib]

13. And it has a 1970s version of a microprocessor.

There's gotta be a thousand transistors in that thing! And maybe 4k of RAM.


.


( sorry, V'ger)
to ya. You're quite the machine!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

22. Instruments of Voyager...

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/instruments/

[Enter stage left]

44. Powered by the Energizer Bunny!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

46. Radioisotope Power System

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/instruments/

Radioisotope Power System (RPS)

Status: As of 2023, the twin Voyagers' RTGs are in stable operation at 225 We.

Three radioisotope thermoelectric generator units (RTGs), electrically parallel-connected, are the central power sources for the mission module. Each RTG is made up of a radioisotope heat source, a thermoelectric converter, a gas pressure venting system, temperature transducers, connectors, a heat rejecting cylindrical container, and bracketry. The RTGs are mounted in tandem (end-to-end) on a deployable boom as part of the MM.

The heat source radioisotopic fuel is Plutonium-238 in the form of the oxide Pu02. In the isotopic decay process, alpha particles are released which bombard the inner surface of the container. The energy released is converted to heat and is the source of heat to the thermoelectric converter.

[orthoclad]

4. Bring back NASA,

to hell with the zillionaires owning the sky and filling it with junk.

[AZ8theist]

18. Where did NASA go?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

21. Nixon cut funding, then Rotten Ronnie damaged it, and it's been underfunded for years.

[former9thward]

48. It was at its height in 1966.

And has been declining ever since. No matter the president. Reagan actually increased it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA

[DFW]

23. A guy I know is running it now.

I talked to him at the beginning of the year, and he seemed be rather sure that NASA was still there. Way back when, he even went "up there."

[tavernier]

59. Oh come on, spill...

We won’t accuse you of name dropping

[DFW]

62. I guess my efforts to avoid it aren't working............

Bill has been a regular attendee at the New Year's Renaissance Weekend gatherings in Charleston, SC for many years, so if I said I didn't know him, no one would believe me anyway.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

20. NASA links...

https://blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024/10/28/after-pause-nasas-voyager-1-communicating-with-mission-team/

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/instruments/

[orthoclad]

47. Thanks

[Deuxcents]

27. I'm happy my tax dollars are spent on worthwhile projects like this..definitely got our money's worth

[GopherGal]

39. When I hear stuff like this...

I have my own little "Proud to be an American" moment.
No apologies (at all) to that MAGAt Lee Greenwood.

Good ole American ingenuity to make the thing in the first place.
And more of it to keep it communicating years after they originally thought it would be dead in the water.

[edhopper]

5. Perhaps another civilization

will pick it up and build it back better.

[odins folly]

15. What could possibly

Go wrong.....

[verargert]

30. they hear and see the transmissions from TSF and stay far away

[keep_left]

42. There was an "X-Files" episode that was somewhat like that...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Green_Men_%28The_X-Files%29

(Sorry about the formatting; Wiki links often cause problems with the DU software).

[edhopper]

43. Star Trek the Motion Picture

[ismnotwasm]

6. We are finding out so much so fast, it's pretty overwhelming

Voyager 1 is amazing

[mitch96]

7. This is so cool..They just science the heck out of it....nt

[Jack Valentino]

10. This is just amazing..... and every time I hear about Voyageur,

I want to go watch "Starman" again... lol

[mahatmakanejeeves]

26. Great movie. I have it on VHS. NT

Last edited Fri Nov 1, 2024, 06:04 PM - Edit history (1)

[central scrutinizer]

38. How appropriate

VHS technology dates to 1976.

[progressoid]

11. rec

[Pinback]

12. Billions and billions of miles!

So amazing — sometimes living in the present feels like living in the future.

[Blue Owl]

35. Somewhere Carl Sagan is smiling

[MorbidButterflyTat]

37. Oh I absolutely love him!

Smart is soooo sexy.

[lastlib]

14. Dedicated to Voyager I & II:

[Emile]

17. 23 hours to transmit a message each way.

[irisblue]

24. Of course I need to this

?feature=shared

[electric_blue68]

41. Of course! Lotta people didn't like that movie but I did.

Thought it was a very clever premise.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

25. You just can't beat Radio Shack. NT

[twodogsbarking]

28. "D" batteries I bet.

[Qutzupalotl]

34. It wanted to wish Jimmy Carter a belated happy 100th birthday

since he's on its video disc.

[Hekate]

36. V'ger ... wow... I've been a space program booster since Sputnik

🖖🏽. 🪐 💫 🖖🏽

[Hermit-The-Prog]

40. Wired article from 2013, "Interstellar 8-Track" ...

https://www.wired.com/2013/09/vintage-voyager-probes/

Interstellar 8-Track: How Voyager's Vintage Tech Keeps Running

The computers aboard the Voyager probes each have 69.63 kilobytes of memory, total. That’s about enough to store one average internet jpeg file. The probes’ scientific data is encoded on old-fashioned digital 8-track tape machines rather than whatever solid state drive your high-end laptop is currently using. Once it's been transmitted to Earth, the spacecraft have to write over old data in order to have enough room for new observations.

The Voyager machines are capable of executing about 81,000 instructions per second. The smart phone that is likely sitting in your pocket is probably about 7,500 times faster than that. They transmit their data back to Earth at 160 bits per second. A slow dial-up connection can deliver at least 20,000 bits per second.

The Voyager probes are always sending out a signal. Voyager 1 has a 22.4-Watt transmitter – something equivalent to a refrigerator light bulb – but by the time its beacon reaches us, the power has been reduced to roughly 0.1 billion-billionth of a Watt. NASA has to use its largest antenna, a 70-meter dish, or combine two 34-meter antennas, just to hear Voyager.

[Hekate]

49. This is actually wonderful

[electric_blue68]

51. Somewhat later than Sputnik for me...

wheeling those 6ft or so high TV stands into our grade school classrooms to watch the Mercury programs lift offs. 👍

[Hekate]

53. I was really quite little when Sputnik orbited. We got a parakeet about that time & I named it...

…Sputnik because it flew in circles when let out of the cage.

With all the F&SF in the house as I grew up I really wanted to Go Where No Girl Had Gone Before.

[electric_blue68]

54. Cool! And a parakeet. 🧡

So a lot of Sci-Fi, and Fantasy?

[nolabear]

45. Awww...I named my very first car after her.

Godspeed, little V-ger.

[GenThePerservering]

50. It'll be the only way we can communicate with deep space

since aliens probably roll up the windows and keep going when they go past earth.

[Permanut]

52. According to my calculations..

based on the original $900 million cost, that's about five cents a mile.

[4lbs]

60. The 1960s and 1970s, that's when we (as a country) built stuff that lasts.

A VERY LONG TIME.

I still have my analog turntable and stereo from the 1960s, a Pioneer model that my father purchased back then. Wood-grained side panels and everything. No matter.

Still Works.

I have an "old" 8-track tape player from the 1970s. Still works. I have 8-track tapes that still work too.

I also have an "old" early 1981 AM/FM stereo/turntable combo unit (with headphone jack) that my parents bought me when I was in Junior High. Still works. Manufacture date on the back states Nov 1979.

In fact, all my A/V units have 1/4" headphone jacks (remember those?) built-in, and still work.

EDIT: I also have an "old" B&W 13-inch TV with rabbit-ear antennae. CRT tube and dial knobs. Still Works, although it is difficult to get anything other than local stations. (The channel selector knob only goes up to 20). At the time, I used it for my old 8-bit computer (before even the IBM PC was invented).

Whenever someone cries out that their ~ $300 "electronic toy" crapped out after about a year, I silently laugh to myself.