Voyager near Solar System's edge

[DainBramaged]

Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, has reached a new milestone in its quest to leave the Solar System.

Now 17.4bn km (10.8bn miles) from home, the veteran probe has detected a distinct change in the flow of particles that surround it.

These particles, which emanate from the Sun, are no longer travelling outwards but are moving sideways.

It means Voyager must be very close to making the jump to interstellar space - the space between the stars.

Edward Stone, the Voyager project scientist, lauded the explorer and the fascinating science it continues to return 33 years after launch.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11988466?utm

Voyager 1 was launched on 5 September 1977, and its sister spacecraft, Voyager 2, on 20 August 1977

[Warren DeMontague]

1. Kick

Cool.

:kick:

[David Zephyr]

2. Thanks for this fascinating story on the incredible Voyager 1.

33 years! Thanks.

Edit for K&R.

[awoke_in_2003]

67. we used to know....

how to build things to last in this country.

[Union Scribe]

3. Whoa!

That's amazing. Sorry I don't have anything more intelligent to say about it, the awe is giving my brain vapor lock.

[progressoid]

4. 33 Years!

Damn, I'm feeling a little old now. And a little happy that the old V-ger is still going.

[WillParkinson]

5. Awe inspiring...I hope it doesn't go rogue one day!

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/V%27Ger

Thank you for posting this Dain! Science fact is always so much cooler than science fiction.

[Hannah Bell]

6. so when it gets to the spaces between stars, wil something happen?

will we be catapulted into a different reality?

[apocalypsehow]

7. I was in junior high when the Voyagers were launched. Vaguely remember it. Damn, I feel old. n/t.

[Kalyke]

47. Heh... I was 7 years old!

[Ghost Dog]

8. Voyager Mission web site:

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/mission.html

[sarge43]

9. In all the dark places where you walk,

may the gods be with you. Ancient Egyptian prayer

[geckosfeet]

10. Yes - Voyager 2 was launched two weeks after Voyager 1

Voyager 1 was sent on a shorter quicker trajectory so that it reached Jupiter and Saturn before Voyager 2.
- Voyager trajectories

[Lucinda]

11. Awesome.

:)

[canetoad]

12. Cool

Never forget Vger on startrek.

[Sancho]

13. V'ger will return!

Resistance is futile.

[Delphinus]

16. Ooh!

You remember too! :toast:

[Skidmore]

30. My first thought too.

:)

[walldude]

62. Damn it beat me too it...

:toast:

[old mark]

14. K&R....Great to hear this - what a wonderful accomplishment this is!

It might outlast us all.


mark

[Delphinus]

15. V-GER

(memories of Star Trek, the first movie - yes, it wasn't *that* good, but I did really enjoy it)

This is exciting news!

[hobbit709]

17. And it still hasn't detected an intelligent, compassionate Republican.

[BlueJazz]

18. I believe it DID sense one named xenak in the Andromeda Galaxy but He ....

..died under "Mysterious Circumstances"

[Odin2005]

19. Take care and watch out for comets, Voyager!

[leeroysphitz]

20. It may sound odd but I am so proud of that little porbe. 33 years and going.

I am also very proud of the men and women who designed, built, launched and maintained this project over the years.

I wish the U.S. could get back to the position of scientific preeminence that we enjoyed back when this vehicle was launched. :(

[sarge43]

29. Someone summed it nicely

"It works; it does no harm and it's ours."

I share your pride -- significant achievement in the annuals of science and exploration.

[Statistical]

21. Unless some catastrophy happens Voyager will out live many of its creators.

It carries onboard 3 RTG (Radioisotope thermoelectric generator). Essentially a nuclear reactor which uses decay heat rather than active fission to produce energy. Very small output compared to fission reactor but very simple design, no moving parts, and last very long time (due to half life).

The power output is slowly declining over the decades but the RTG should keep Voyager operation until 2025 (almost 50 years after launch).

After 2025 the RTG will be incapable of supplying enough power to keep minimally requires systems online and the system will trip offline and go dark, and silently sailing through deep space. At its currently velocity and path it would take nearly 280,000 years to reach the nearest star.

[Xithras]

49. There's a reasonable probability that we will lose contact some point after 2015

The RTG's have been degrading and power output has been slowly dropping since launch, and NASA began powering down systems to conserve power in 2007. The next item on the shutdown list is the gyroscopes, which NASA plans to power down around 2015. The expectation is that Voyager 1 will have fully exited the heliosheath by then, which should minimize external pressure on the spacecraft.

Powering the gyroscopes down will allow the science package and transmitter to run for another 10-15 years, but it comes with some risk. Once the gyroscopes are off, Voyager 1 will no longer be able to orient itself towards Earth. If it impacts ANYTHING in interstellar space, even a grain of sand, or if interstellar drag is higher than expected, we will lose radio alignment permanently and the spacecraft will go silent. The sensors will continue to function for at least another decade, but it will be broadcasting its data into the infinity of space.

[Statistical]

50. Thanks. Interesting facts.

Still even 2015 would be nearly 40 year lifespan. Many of the creators were in late 30s and 40s when working on Voyager program thus they would be 70 to 80 in 2015. Entirely possible that Voyager will outlive them.

I didn't know about the 2015 gyroscope shutdown. I hope big V can exit the Heliophase by then. It would be a shame to lose the probe in 2015. I think big V can do it. It has an exit velocity (relative to solar system) of 8 miles per second. In 4 years till 2015 it will travel 1.01 billion more miles. If the heliophase is less than a billion miles thick it should be ok.

Still amazing the powerplants are working (and decaying according to predicted rates).
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/weekly-reports/index.htm

Voyager 1 powerplant still outputs 273W (compared to 460W initial peak) nearly 35 years after being built.

[Xithras]

55. They won't shut if down if it hasn't cleared the heliosheath yet.

As I recall, the original plans at launch were for a gyroscope shutdown between 2005 and 2010, because the understanding in 1977 was that Voyager would be well clear of the heliophase by that point. The date was extended to 2015 when new science revealed that Voyager would take longer to cross the region of space than was originally anticipated.

If Voyager has not cleared the heliosheath by 2015, it's probable that they will extend the date again. Doing so, however, may require that they shut down one of the science packages. I was reading something on this probability a number of years ago, and one of the JPL engineers mentioned that they could theoretically shut down all of the science packages and coast with only the gyros and main computer working for a decade or so, and then power the science packages back up when external forces were minimized and it became safe to turn the gyros off. Because of the age of the spacecraft, however, this is considered to be a disaster scenario. Most of the science packages have been operating uninterrupted since shortly after launch, and there is some fear that they might not turn on again once powered down.

Still, they won't turn the gyroscopes off if they believe that doing so will cause the immediate loss of the spacecraft. The 2015 date was set under the assumption that the spacecraft would be stable enough to operate for another decade or so without any additional attitude corrections.

[Vinnie From Indy]

22. The weekly mission log is pretty cool

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/weekly-reports/index.htm

[DainBramaged]

23. And how would the world react if Voyager had a 'Transformers' moment.....

[stuntcat]

24. Go Voyager, Go Voyager !

tanks for this! :woohoo: :kick: :kick:

[DainBramaged]

25. It is amazing the nuke reactor abord is still functioning perfectly

It would be interesting to see what the Voyager looks like after 33 years in space, how many holes in it's skin from space garbage, how it's tarnished. Millions of years from now, if we as a civilization don't recover her she will be discovered by a civilization and they will wonder who we were.

[stuntcat]

26. "and they will wonder who we were"

:headbang: :hug:

[Phoonzang]

27. That probe is older than I am.

It's also had a more interesting life....

Ok...I'm going to go cry into my bourbon now. ;(

[awoke_in_2003]

72. don't cry in you bourbon...

good bourbon shouldn't be diluted :)

[Ichingcarpenter]

28. With the Golden Disk- Nice picture here BTW

[4_TN_TITANS]

31. Too cool...

One of my relatives helped design the shuttles life-support systems at NASA's Redstone Arsenal. Back in the day, America had an unbeatable space program, like everything else back then things were built to last.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

32. V'ger? nt

[HeeBGBz]

70. One and the same

33 years. I hope it keeps on sending info. I remember that episode of Star Trek.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

33. Cool!

:applause:

[MicaelS]

34. The only reason the Voyagers

Have been able to do so much is because they are nuclear powered. Specifically by a plutonium-238 fueled radioisotope thermoelectric generator.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator

So the next time someone make an anti-nuclear power statement, you can remind them about Voyager.

[Warren DeMontague]

35. Same with Cassini, which has done some incredible science at Saturn.

I was greatly disappointed by some of the Neo-Luddism on the "left" when Cassini was launched.

Nuclear Power is not inherently evil or good- it is a technology that poses unique benefits as well as risks. I don't have a problem with Nuclear Power; my problem is that we don't have a coherent strategy to deal with the long-term waste; "bury it and hope it doesn't leak and no one finds it for 300,000 years" is NOT a coherent strategy.

[MicaelS]

36. Disappointed absolutely... Surprised, absolutely not...

There is a subset of the Left that hears, or reads the word "nuclear", and they become maniacs. And yes I remember the idiots, fools and poltroons who protested when Cassini was launched.

[Warren DeMontague]

37. I believe there's a Radioisotope power source on the Mars Science Lab, too.

We'll see if we get a replay when that thing is launched, I guess.

[Statistical]

39. Yup and it is the RTG which will allow a more "robust" vehicle.

No possible way you would generate the necessary power of the MSL with solar power especially not with Martian weather (often near zero visibility and IR blocking dust storms miles high).

The RTG will ensure the MSL will be functional for a very very long time unless some sort of catastrophic failure.


May no more probes suffer the fate of the Mars Rover (Spirit)...

[Xenotime]

43. *snif* That cartoon is so sad.

[Warren DeMontague]

45. Actually, I think those rovers do a great job of disproving the saw that "we can't build anything"

Seriously. Talk about craftmanship.

[Statistical]

48. I agree. Pretty amazing. Spirit was suppose to be a 60 day mission. It lasted nearly 2 years.

The sad thing is what killed Spirit was power source. If it had an RTG despite being stuck (maybe wouldn't have gotten stuck w/ larger motors) it could have been useful as a static observation station measuring weather, air samples, and soil composition.

Once it got stuck it couldn't orient its panels towards the sun (due to a hill blocking southern skyline) and it was doomed. The power it gained each cycle was less and less and less and eventually not enough for it to boot up again.

I hope they marked the location well. Someday maybe a future mars colonist could recover it and send it home to put it in a museum.

[Warren DeMontague]

52. Actually, more like 6 years. And Opportunity is still functional.

Incredible performance from both of them.

[DainBramaged]

42. JUST like the subset who panic when the word take and guns are used in the same sentence

because a science invented hundreds of years ago is more important than finding what magic our universe holds for us.

[MicaelS]

56. The similarity is in both instances it is fringe elements on the Left

Trying to severely restrict or ban things, on the grounds someone "might get hurt", or "it might save one one life." Those fears have cost us.

It is the fears of the Anti-Nuclear elements on the Left that had cost us.
It is the fears of the Anti-Gun elements on the Left that had cost us.

Opposition to Nuclear Power has caused the US to be held hostage to the use of Fossil Fuels, and the air, ground and water pollution they create.
Opposition to Nuclear Power has caused the US to have to placate people with Dark Age mindsets in the Middle East that have the Fossil Fuels, and to have to intervene militarily in a place where otherwise we have no interest.

Opposition to Guns has cost the Democratic Party immensely.
It cost us control of Congress in 1994. Bill Clinton's foolhardy support of the AWB, even when his own colleagues in Congress told him not to, gave us Gingrich and his "Contract with America."
It made George Bush Governor of Texas. If Ann Richards, the then Democratic Governor of Texas has signed the CCW Bill, Bush would not have been elected Governor.
It made George Bush President of the US. If Al Gore had not lost his home state of Tennessee because of his stand on Gun Control, Bush would not have been elected President.

[DainBramaged]

57. Yada yada yada........

:eyes:

[MicaelS]

59. Too bad you can't handle the truth n/t

[DainBramaged]

60. Typical, just typical

goodbye, rub that steel, it suits you.

:puke:

[awoke_in_2003]

73. but they were nowhere nears as bad...

as the "don't bomb the moon" crowd.

[Warren DeMontague]

77. That was the most fun I've had on DU.

And I've been here a while.

[MicaelS]

78. OMG, I forgot all about those morons! n/t

[backscatter712]

38. The nice thing about Cassini & Voyager is we don't have to worry about their waste.

After all, we shot them into space, didn't we.

[MicaelS]

40. Yes, we did,

And some anti-nuclear fools did not want to do that.

[Statistical]

41. Well technicallly all radioactives decay to stable isotopes.

Eventually the entire "fuel" supply on the probes will be non-radioactive, as will as spent nuclear fuel, and for that matter so will the earth.

Of course for the earth that will be really bad. It is the nuclear decay of isotopes in the earth's core which keeps the core hot. The heat in the core keeps it liquid and the fact that it is liquid allows it to spin and create magnetic field.

Ironically when nuclear decay in earth core stops (well more technically slows) the earth will be bombarded by lethal radiation from the Sun. So radiation keeps the earth safe from radiation.

[Warren DeMontague]

44. I guess you missed the second part of my post?

Here it is, again:

Nuclear Power is not inherently evil or good- it is a technology that poses unique benefits as well as risks. I don't have a problem with Nuclear Power; my problem is that we don't have a coherent strategy to deal with the long-term waste; "bury it and hope it doesn't leak and no one finds it for 300,000 years" is NOT a coherent strategy.

[backscatter712]

53. Yeah, for the stuff here on Earth, we're gonna have to figure something out.

My personal suggestion would be to re-react the waste in a breeder reactor and make more fuel, and for the stuff that can't be used to make fuel, react it in a disposal reactor, so as to accelerate the radioactive decay process so it doesn't take 300,000 years.

I'm also partial to switching the nuclear industry to using thorium reactors rather than uranium - thorium is far less messy.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

46. Like this?

[awoke_in_2003]

75. The Edge of the Solar System...

thanks, I'll be here all week.

[slampoet]

51. Pretty good mileage for an American Made vehicle from the 70's

[MilesColtrane]

54. I have a feeling that in 280,002 years...

we're going to get a message back that says, "SEND MORE CHUCK BERRY."



List of the music on Voyager 1:

Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor. 4:40

Java, court gamelan, "Kinds of Flowers," recorded by Robert Brown. 4:43

Senegal, percussion, recorded by Charles Duvelle. 2:08

Zaire, Pygmy girls' initiation song, recorded by Colin Turnbull. 0:56

Australia, Aborigine songs, "Morning Star" and "Devil Bird," recorded by Sandra LeBrun Holmes. 1:26

Mexico, "El Cascabel," performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. 3:14

"Johnny B. Goode," written and performed by Chuck Berry. 2:38

New Guinea, men's house song, recorded by Robert MacLennan. 1:20

Japan, shakuhachi, "Tsuru No Sugomori" ("Crane's Nest,") performed by Goro Yamaguchi. 4:51

Bach, "Gavotte en rondeaux" from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55

Mozart, The Magic Flute, Queen of the Night aria, no. 14. Edda Moser, soprano. Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor. 2:55

Georgian S.S.R., chorus, "Tchakrulo," collected by Radio Moscow. 2:18

Peru, panpipes and drum, collected by Casa de la Cultura, Lima. 0:52

"Melancholy Blues," performed by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven. 3:05

Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes, recorded by Radio Moscow. 2:30

Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Sacrificial Dance, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, conductor. 4:35

Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Prelude and Fugue in C, No.1. Glenn Gould, piano. 4:48

Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor. 7:20

Bulgaria, "Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin," sung by Valya Balkanska. 4:59

Navajo Indians, Night Chant, recorded by Willard Rhodes. 0:57

Holborne, Paueans, Galliards, Almains and Other Short Aeirs, "The Fairie Round," performed by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London. 1:17

Solomon Islands, panpipes, collected by the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Service. 1:12

Peru, wedding song, recorded by John Cohen. 0:38

China, ch'in, "Flowing Streams," performed by Kuan P'ing-hu. 7:37

India, raga, "Jaat Kahan Ho," sung by Surshri Kesar Bai Kerkar. 3:30

"Dark Was the Night," written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson. 3:15

Beethoven, String Quartet No. 13 in B flat, Opus 130, Cavatina, performed by Budapest String Quartet. 6:37

[DainBramaged]

58. They should have included Pink Floyd......

:evilgrin:

[G_j]

61. wow! n/t

[Desertrose]

63. I second your WOW!

:hi: G_j :hug::loveya:

[1620rock]

64. And meanwhile Pioneer 10 is traveling...

...opposite Voyager 1. Pioneer 10 left Earth on March 2, 1972, and is the farthest object from Earth flying in the opposite direction to which the Sun moves. Of course, the Voyager 1 interplanetary probe passed Pioneer 10 in mileage out of the Solar System in 1998, but Voyager 1 is travelling in a direction opposite to the course taken by Pioneer 10. The two man made spacecraft are now nearly 24 light hours apart.

Pioneer 10's speed relative to the Sun is 27,380 mph (12.24 km/sec).

Pioneer 10 is heading away from our Sun generally in the direction of the red star Aldeberan. That's the main star seen as the eye of The Bull in the constellation Taurus in Earth's night sky. Aldebaran is about 68 light years away. Pioneer 10 should arrive at Aldeberan in 2 million years.

[Warren DeMontague]

79. Except Alderaan's not there, kid. It's been totally blown away.

Oh, wait, you said Aldeberan. My bad.

[derby378]

65. Anyone else here listen to SYMPHONIES OF THE PLANETS?

The Voyager probes caught all these distinct electromagnetic signatures from all the planets and moons they visited and beamed these frequencies back to Earth, where NASA and Brain-Mind Research converted these frequencies to music. I've got all five volumes of this stuff. Excellent for deep relaxation and contemplation. Fans of Lustmord, In Slaughter Natives, or anything on the Cyclic Law label should really check this stuff out while there's still a chance.

[MicaelS]

66. I do, fabulous stuff, simply fabulous!!! n/t

[Bucky]

68. Good riddance! Don't let the Milky Way hit your ass on the way out.

God, I hate that space probe.

[trotsky]

71. LOL n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

74. That's only because you found it in bed with your wife.

[awoke_in_2003]

69. K&R...

for the original energizer bunny.

[snooper2]

76. and still no sign of god or the pearly gates...