Voyager I Appears to be in the End Game

[Uomo Senza Nome]

NASA Is Still Fighting to Save Its Historic Voyager 1 Spacecraft (msn.com) 

NASA's Voyager 1 has been glitching for months, [color=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]sending nonsensical data to ground control[/url]. Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have been trying to resolve the issue, but given how far the spacecraft currently is, the process has been extremely slow. Things are looking pretty bleak for the aging mission, which might be nearing the end. Still, NASA isn't ready to let go of its most distant spacecraft just yet.[/font][/size][/color]
"The team continues information gathering and are preparing some steps that they're hopeful will get them on a path to either understand the root of the problem and/or solve it," a JPL spokesperson told Gizmodo in an email.

Currently it takes 22 hours+ to send signals to Earth. Things are not looking good but there is always hope.

But then:

Voyager 1 has three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) mounted on a boom. Each MHW-RTG contains 24 pressed plutonium-238 oxide spheres. The RTGs generated about 470 W of electric power at the time of launch, with the remainder being dissipated as waste heat. The power output of the RTGs declines over time due to the 87.7-year half-life of the fuel and degradation of the thermocouples, but the craft's RTGs will continue to support some of its operations until 2025.

45 years. I was ten years old when it launched. I made a model of it for the science fair and explained the mission and how it important it would be for our understanding of space and our solar system. I had dreams of regular flights to the moon by the age I am now. People on Mars. While the disappointment is there on that level I can't be disappointed in Voyager. It seems to have been one of the highest payoff missions they ever attempted.

Imagine the conceit of the designers to design a communication system that could reach beyond our solar system? Like throwing a penny and hitting the sun with it.

[Moab]

NASA Is Still Fighting to Save Its Historic Voyager 1 Spacecraft (msn.com)

NASA's Voyager 1 has been glitching for months, [color=var(--accent-foreground-rest)]sending nonsensical data to ground control[/url]. Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have been trying to resolve the issue, but given how far the spacecraft currently is, the process has been extremely slow. Things are looking pretty bleak for the aging mission, which might be nearing the end. Still, NASA isn't ready to let go of its most distant spacecraft just yet.[/font][/size][/color]
"The team continues information gathering and are preparing some steps that they're hopeful will get them on a path to either understand the root of the problem and/or solve it," a JPL spokesperson told Gizmodo in an email.

Currently it takes 22 hours+ to send signals to Earth. Things are not looking good but there is always hope.

But then:

Voyager 1 has three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) mounted on a boom. Each MHW-RTG contains 24 pressed plutonium-238 oxide spheres. The RTGs generated about 470 W of electric power at the time of launch, with the remainder being dissipated as waste heat. The power output of the RTGs declines over time due to the 87.7-year half-life of the fuel and degradation of the thermocouples, but the craft's RTGs will continue to support some of its operations until 2025.

45 years. I was ten years old when it launched. I made a model of it for the science fair and explained the mission and how it important it would be for our understanding of space and our solar system. I had dreams of regular flights to the moon by the age I am now. People on Mars. While the disappointment is there on that level I can't be disappointed in Voyager. It seems to have been one of the highest payoff missions they ever attempted.

Imagine the conceit of the designers to design a communication system that could reach beyond our solar system? Like throwing a penny and hitting the sun with it.

Very cool. I did not know the history. 

[EBuff75]

I have more affection for Voyager 2, given that I was an 80s kid and that's when the bulk of it's flybys took place.  But when I saw this news the other day about Voyager 1, it made me sad.  These things have been ridiculous workhorses for nearly 50 years now and I hope that they manage to figure out a way to keep them going for a long time to come.

[Uomo Senza Nome]

Voyager 2 is expected to keep talking until 2030, when it's power cell will no longer provide enough energy to run anything. 

 

Voyager 2 is not headed toward any particular star, although in roughly 42,000 years, it will pass the star Ross 248 at a distance of 1.7 light-years

As for Voyager 1

In 300,000 years, it will pass within less than 1 light year of the M3V star TYC 3135–52–1.

To be a scientist in such a far flung solar system and find such an ancient wonder floating in space. We all saw the Klingons blow it from space but hopefully reality is better.

[MacWa77ace]

Currently it takes 22 hours+ to send signals to Earth. Things are not looking good but there is always hope.

I get about 245,520,000 miles from Earth. Is that right? not even a quarter billion after 45 years?

There's a hypothesis or theory that the first manned interstellar ship travelling at >10% light speed, using cryo chambers, to the next star system, that when they get there they will be welcomed by humans who left after them with faster ships and got there before them. And so on and so on.

[majorhavoc]

On one level, I almost feel like this post and my earlier one about the Mars Ingenuity helicopter belong in the Notable Deaths thread. These sturdy robotic explorers exceeded all expectations and have provided us with a deeper understanding of our place in the cosmos. 

They fired the imaginations of a whole generation (and in the case of Voyager, multiple generations) of humanity.  To many astronomers, astrophysicists and science geeks, their passing really are like a death in the family.  They will be missed.

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

On one level, I almost feel like this post and my earlier one about the Mars Ingenuity helicopter belong in the Notable Deaths thread. These sturdy robotic explorers exceeded all expectations and have provided us with a deeper understanding of our place in the cosmos.

They fired the imaginations of a whole generation (and in the case of Voyager, multiple generations) of humanity.  To many astronomers, astrophysicists and science geeks, their passing really are like a death in the family.  They will be missed.

I don't think anything's been said that a non-human death can't be in the Notable Deaths thread.

Wikipedia allows for animals (and I think they had a thing for when the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico collapsed in 2020) to be included in their "Recent Deaths" page, so I figure we could make an exception for these pieces of space exploration history to be included in our Notable Deaths thread.

Further discussion may be needed on that first, though.

[majorhavoc]

Its not important really.  When I said "on one level" I only meant that to many, it really is like a death when these machines go dark.  I was just musing on what a loss this is for a lot of people who grew up marveling at the scientific wonders these things revealed. Or who built their reseach careers around the data they beamed back to us.  

But it's not a real death, so I dont want to trivialize the passing of living beings that (IMHO) the notable deaths thread should be reserved for.

If others disagree, I'm fine with that. Just my 2 cents. 

[Raptor]

Imagine the conceit of the designers to design a communication system that could reach beyond our solar system?

The generation that got us through WW-2 was the greatest generation. That said these designers who made the original designs in the early 1970's built this with a little more knowledge and computer HP than the Apollo missions but still using paper, pencils, drafting boards and paper and less computer power than we have in most microwave ovens.

[Moab]

I think if space could be discussed in the media in terms of "miles". More people would begin to understand it. I think when it gets discussed as "light years" people's minds glaze over. And it very quickly gets dismissed at science fiction or something they are not going to understand. As a result, people don't even begin to try to understand where they reside in the universe. And rarely look up beyond their day to day.

And maybe not realize how small their trivial lifes or problems are.

It reminds of a metaphor. "On earth we are like a group of people, having a knife fight, on a life raft.".

[flybynight]

I think if space could be discussed in the media in terms of "miles". More people would begin to understand it. I think when it gets discussed as "light years" people's minds glaze over. And it very quickly gets dismissed at science fiction or something they are not going to understand. As a result, people don't even begin to try to understand where they reside in the universe. And rarely look up beyond their day to day.
And maybe not realize how small their trivial lifes or problems are.
It reminds of a metaphor. "On earth we are like a group of people, having a knife fight, on a life raft.".

15.2 billion miles as of January 2024. OR  0.0025516169 Light Years OR 1,342.0484 Light Minutes OR
0.00078232931 Parsecs

Only 25,688,092,880,812 miles to Alpha Centauri   the next nearest star 

[majorhavoc]

I think if space could be discussed in the media in terms of "miles". More people would begin to understand it. I think when it gets discussed as "light years" people's minds glaze over. And it very quickly gets dismissed at science fiction or something they are not going to understand. As a result, people don't even begin to try to understand where they reside in the universe. And rarely look up beyond their day to day.
And maybe not realize how small their trivial lifes or problems are.
It reminds of a metaphor. "On earth we are like a group of people, having a knife fight, on a life raft.".

15.2 billion miles as of January 2024. OR  0.0025516169 Light Years OR 1,342.0484 Light Minutes OR
0.00078232931 Parsecs

Only 25,688,092,880,812 miles to Alpha Centauri the next nearest star

The only good thing about the Star Wars spinoff movie Solo is it convincingly explained that Harrison Ford's line in A New Hope "This is the ship that made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs" was not, in fact, a misuse of the term - the view held by the scientific community for 40+ years.

God, I'm such a geek ... 

[Moab]

I think if space could be discussed in the media in terms of "miles". More people would begin to understand it. I think when it gets discussed as "light years" people's minds glaze over. And it very quickly gets dismissed at science fiction or something they are not going to understand. As a result, people don't even begin to try to understand where they reside in the universe. And rarely look up beyond their day to day.
And maybe not realize how small their trivial lifes or problems are.
It reminds of a metaphor. "On earth we are like a group of people, having a knife fight, on a life raft.".

15.2 billion miles as of January 2024. OR  0.0025516169 Light Years OR 1,342.0484 Light Minutes OR
0.00078232931 Parsecs

Only 25,688,092,880,812 miles to Alpha Centauri the next nearest star

I think 15.2 billion miles makes a lot more sense to alot more people. Than how ever many light years it is. Most people have no concept of how long it takes to travel a light year. Or how far that is. But a mile makes sense.

[Uomo Senza Nome]

Star Trek IV:

Scotty: "I've find it hard to believe I've come millions of miles..."
Dr. McCoy: "Thousands, you've come thousands..."
Scotty: "thousands of miles on an invited tour...."

I always wondered if they would use miles in the future, since everything was supposed to metric... but here we are.

[Moab]

"Over three decades ago, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft — which has journeyed deeper into space than any other mission — captured image from a whopping 3.8 billion miles away."

[echo83]

I think it's absolutely awesome that Voyager 1 has held up as long as it has. I've tried (with limited success) to explain to my kids just how incredible this distance traveled and information gathered is. Now that I can explain in terms of mileage instead of light years, that explanation should be easier. "Remember that time we flew to Disney? Ok, well take that, times..."

Explaining the gold record? Way easier. "Ok, listen up, this song is called 'Johnny B. Goode,' and it's so awesome that we want to share it with aliens, guys."

Look on the bright side, everyone. Since we've launched 2 Voyager probes, we can send out another three before something really serious happens.

[Uomo Senza Nome]

I think it's absolutely awesome that Voyager 1 has held up as long as it has. I've tried (with limited success) to explain to my kids just how incredible this distance traveled and information gathered is. Now that I can explain in terms of mileage instead of light years, that explanation should be easier. "Remember that time we flew to Disney? Ok, well take that, times..."

Explaining the gold record? Way easier. "Ok, listen up, this song is called 'Johnny B. Goode,' and it's so awesome that we want to share it with aliens, guys."

Look on the bright side, everyone. Since we've launched 2 Voyager probes, we can send out another three before something really serious happens.

I was always hoped the aliens would send back a jam of equal caliber that would rock our world.

[Moab]

I keep getting a notification email for the same post above. And a few other threads too. 

[majorhavoc]

Perhaps news of Voyager 1's demise is greatly exaggerated.  Here's hoping for a few more years of good science from our interplanetary friend.