How the Voyager probes keep going and going decades after launch

[onthedarkside]

 

When the Voyager probes lifted off weeks apart in 1977, no one expected that the twin spacecraft would have their missions extended from four years to 45 years and counting.

 

Now, the mission team is getting creative with its strategies for the power supply and instruments on both Voyager 1 and 2 to enable both probes to continue collecting valuable data as they explore uncharted interstellar territory.

 

Voyager 1 is currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth at about 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away, while Voyager 2 has traveled more than 12 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) from Earth. Both are in interstellar space and the only spacecraft to operate beyond the heliosphere, the sun’s bubble of magnetic fields and particles that extends well beyond the orbit of Pluto.

 

READ MORE

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/10/world/nasa-voyager-probes-power-scn/index.html

 

[Phoenix Rising]

For anyone that wanna follow their progress the probes have a dedicated Twitter profile. Mind-blowing stuff!

 

https://twitter.com/NASAVoyager?s=20

 

 

[BusyB]

They don't make 'em like that any more ... Some don't even make it into space ...

Edited May 11, 2023 by BusyB

[herfiehandbag]

Piloted by the Duracell Bunny?

[KhunBENQ]

Always good to keep the numbers in mind.

Voyager is travelling 45 years and made about 24 billion km. That is less than >one day< in light speed.

Remember that when reading about new earth like planet detected. "Only" 12 light years away.

[JeffersLos]

On 5/10/2023 at 8:27 PM, onthedarkside said:

Voyager 1 is currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth at about 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away, while Voyager 2 has traveled more than 12 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) from Earth. Both are in interstellar space and the only spacecraft to operate beyond the heliosphere, the sun’s bubble of magnetic fields and particles that extends well beyond the orbit of Pluto.

And they won't leave the Solar System for another 14,000-28,000 years.

 

 

[Denim]

17 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Always good to keep the numbers in mind.

Voyager is travelling 45 years and made about 24 billion km. That is less than >one day< in light speed.

Remember that when reading about new earth like planet detected. "Only" 12 light years away.

So I've got time to get a beer from the fridge before we get images of ET.