Orphia Nay
Penguilicious Spodmaster., Tagger
Yay! Fly on, little spacecraft, and keep talking!
What other pieces of electrical equipment have been working since the 1970s, without maintenance? Not much. That shows how wonderful this spacecraft is.
Nah it's the crap one, Voyager 2 is the good one. NASA should return Voyager 1 and ask for their money back!
What other pieces of electrical equipment have been working since the 1970s, without maintenance? Not much. That shows how wonderful this spacecraft is.
Age: 117 years (as of June 2018)
Installed: First installed at the fire department hose cart house on L Street in 1901
What other pieces of electrical equipment have been working since the 1970s, without maintenance? Not much. That shows how wonderful this spacecraft is.
Mission engineers at NASA have turned off the plasma science instrument aboard the Voyager 2 spacecraft due to the probe’s gradually shrinking electrical power supply.
Traveling more than 12.8 billion miles (20.5 billion kilometers) from Earth, the spacecraft continues to use four science instruments to study the region outside our heliosphere, the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun. The probe has enough power to continue exploring this region with at least one operational science instrument into the 2030s.
I'm not sure that going in a straight line in a single direction constitutes "exploring"...
Surveying? Measuring?Well, what would you call it when a spacecraft is taking measurements in an area of space where no spacecraft has ever been before?
If you haven’t been there, I think it does.
Space is curved, but that means that you can travel in a straight line through curved space and from a perspective outside curved space your line won't be "straight".Anyway, I thought space was curved.![]()
Well, what would you call it when a spacecraft is taking measurements in an area of space where no spacecraft has ever been before?
After sending instructions to Voyager 1 on Oct. 16, the team expected to receive data back from the spacecraft within a couple of days; it normally takes about 23 hours for a command to travel more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) to reach the spacecraft in interstellar space, and then another 23 hours for the flight team on Earth to receive a signal back.
However, on Oct. 18, the team was unable to detect Voyager 1's signal on the X-band frequency that the DSN antennas were listening for. This was because, to use less power, the spacecraft's fault protection system lowered the rate at which its radio transmitter was sending back data. The flight team was able to locate a signal later that day – but then, on Oct. 19, communication with Voyager 1 stopped entirely when its X-band transmitter was turned off.
The spacecraft's fault protection system is believed to have been triggered twice more, ultimately causing it to switch to the S-band radio transmitter, which, prior to that date, hadn't been used since 1981. Given the spacecraft is located much farther away in interstellar space today than it was 43 years ago, the flight team was not sure a signal on the S-band frequency could be detected — especially because it transmits a significantly fainter signal while using less power.
It went silent 20+ years ago.Meanwhile, Pioneer 10 hangs on . . . just barely.
![]()
NASA Establishes Contact with Famed Pioneer 10 Spacecraft - NASA Science
NASA scientists have announced that they have contacted Pioneer 10, the plucky small spacecraft launched 29 years ago, ending speculation that its signal had finally fallen silent.science.nasa.gov
That article is from 2001.Meanwhile, Pioneer 10 hangs on . . . just barely.
![]()
NASA Establishes Contact with Famed Pioneer 10 Spacecraft - NASA Science
NASA scientists have announced that they have contacted Pioneer 10, the plucky small spacecraft launched 29 years ago, ending speculation that its signal had finally fallen silent.science.nasa.gov
Jupiter’s gravity accelerated Pioneer 10 to the third space velocity, allowing it to leave the Solar System forever. Thanks to the radioisotope power source, Pioneer 10 maintained communication with Earth until the beginning of the 21st century. The last telemetry from the spacecraft was received on April 27, 2002, and the last weak radio signal was received on January 23, 2003. And this is despite the fact that Pioneer 10 was designed for a nominal lifetime of only 21 months!
To listen to Voyager you need a large radio telescope. The likes of you and me would have no chance of picking up the signal.One thing I know I often overlook when thinking and talking about the likes of Voyager is how astonishing it is that we can receive and understand such faint transmissions. Voyager's transmitter is 23 watts, to compare it to a modern day device our mobile phones peak at about 2 to 3 watts. I just went and searched and found that means the signal we are recieving from Voyager is a billonth of a billionth of a watt, that is apparently called an attowatt.
"Jupiter’s gravity accelerated Pioneer 10 to the third space velocity"Per: https://universemagazine.com/en/beyond-the-stars-five-of-the-most-distant-spacecraft/
So it lasted a little bit longer.
A four-speed transmission? Plus Reverse and Neutral."Jupiter’s gravity accelerated Pioneer 10 to the third space velocity"
I'm deeply enamored of that phrase. It's straight out of a campy 50's sci-fi flick.
One of those still listening, I believe, is about 40 minutes drive from my place.To listen to Voyager you need a large radio telescope. The likes of you and me would have no chance of picking up the signal.
Tidbinbilla?One of those still listening, I believe, is about 40 minutes drive from my place.
Tidbinbilla?