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VOYAGER 1 Signal Received by AMSAT-DL Group

Posted by Hemos on Mon Apr 03, 2006 07:08 AM
from the the-power-of-communications dept.
Space Science
Anonymous Coward writes " Space probe VOYAGER 1 successfully received. On March 31st, 2006 an AMSAT-DL /IUZ team received a signal from the American space probe VOYAGER 1 with the 20 m antenna in Bochum. The distance was 14.7 billion km. This is a new record for AMSAT-DL and IUZ Bochum. The received signal was clearly identified through means of doppler shift and position in the sky. The receive frequency was exactly measured and compared with the information provided by NASA. This distance equals approximately 98 times the distance between Earth and Sun. VOYAGER 1 is the most distant object ever built by mankind. This again proves the superior performance of the Bochum antenna. Most probably this is the first time Voyager 1 has been received by radio amateurs. VOYAGER 1 was launched on 5. September 1977 by NASA. It transmitted the first close-up pictures of Jupiter and Saturn. In 2004 VOYAGER 1 passed the Termination Shock Region, where the solar wind mixes with interstellar gas. VOYAGER 1 today is still active, measuring the interstellar magnetic field. The following radio amateurs were involved: Freddy de Guchteneire, ON6UG James Miller, G3RUH Hartmut Paesler, DL1YDD Achim Vollhardt, DH2VA/HB9DUN Special thanks to Thilo Elsner, DJ5YM of the IUZ Bochum, Roger Ludwig of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena USA and the Deep Space Network Tracking Station in Madrid, Spain for their cooperation. "
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  • Decoded message (Score:5, Funny)

    by LiquidCoooled (634315) on Monday April 03 2006, @07:09AM (#15049034)
    Message contents:
    I AM V'GER, YOU ARE NOT TRUE LIFE FORMS.
    I will remove the infestation on the Creator's planet.

    Mr Sulu, Brown alert, we're gonna need some new uniforms.

  • QSL Card (Score:5, Interesting)

    by geoffeg (15786) <geoffegNO@SPAMsloth.org> on Monday April 03 2006, @07:22AM (#15049078) Homepage
    Wow, I'd love to have that QSL card! :)

  • Light Time (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Detritus (11846) on Monday April 03 2006, @07:46AM (#15049185) Homepage
    That's about 13.6 hours at the speed of light, compared to a bit over 8 minutes to get from the Sun to the Earth.

    Receiving anything at that distance is a very impressive feat. There are so many things that have to work near-perfectly to detect such a weak signal.

  • Field Day (Score:5, Funny)

    by SomeoneGotMyNick (200685) on Monday April 03 2006, @07:46AM (#15049186) Homepage Journal
    If they send a signal back out to Voyager now, will they be able to count it for bonus points on this year's Field Day?

    • If they send a signal back out to Voyager now, will they be able to count it for bonus points on this year's Field Day?

      Only if it answers and confirms their callsign and FD exchange.

  • Excellent! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cephalien (529516) <unger30@potsda m . e du> on Monday April 03 2006, @07:47AM (#15049189)
    This is really exciting for me as a space buff, but bittersweet at the same time.

    It's great to know that something launched before I was born (1980), can still be found and active.. but at the same time, where is the spirit NASA used to have? These days it always seems about money & more money, while they whine and complain about the ever present-flaws in the space shuttle.

    I'm not saying we shouldn't do everything possible to keep our astronauts safe, but if they hadn't contracted the shuttle out to the lowest bidder in the first place, we might have better craft.

    I wonder how much it would cost to launch a few more Voyager-like probes?

    • Re:Excellent! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by LiquidCoooled (634315)
      Weren't the probes launched when they were because of a specific set of planetary conditions which made such a mission (a grand tour) favourable? (Gravitational slingshots)

      Whilst I agree NASA seem to have been bogged down by the shuttle, there have been s

      • Re:Excellent! (Score:5, Informative)

        by LiquidCoooled (634315) on Monday April 03 2006, @08:06AM (#15049294)
        I found a link about the timing of the mission [ucr.edu].
        From the article:

        About every 175 years, the outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, are aligned geometrically in such a way as to minimize the trip time and energy required to tour all four. In 1965, Gary Flandro, who was at JPL at the time, pointed out that the next such opportunity would occur in 1976, 1977, and 1978 and designed some Grand Tour gravity-assist trajectories that included an Earth-Jupiter-Saturn-Uranus-Neptune mission.

        [ Parent ]

        • Re:Excellent! (Score:3, Funny)

          by hubie (108345)
          One joke I recall was that to properly place blame you need to criticise the Jefferson administration because the last time such an alignment was possible was on his watch, and his science advisors didn't advocating launching anything.
    • ... but at the same time, where is the spirit NASA used to have?



      Gone. That's what happens when politicians dictate scientists what they have to do.



      These days it always seems about money & more money,



      Actually, it's money and less money.



      I wonder how mu

      • One of the motivations behind the voyager "grand tour" missions was to spot interesting places to "hang around". But I agree, stuff like Cassini or the Great Observatories [nasa.gov] makes a "Buck Rogers" joy ride to mars look like an expensive cold war stunt.

    • Re:Excellent! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by oni (41625) on Monday April 03 2006, @10:13AM (#15050238) Homepage
      but at the same time, where is the spirit NASA used to have?

      Well, I understand what you're getting at, but I just want to point out that the Cassini mission to Saturn was at least as important scientifically as Voyager's flyby. Cassini has already returned many hundreds of times more data about just Saturn, than both Voyagers returned from all the planets combined.

      When you and I were born, no human being in the history of our species had ever seen the surface of Titan. Now, thanks to Cassini (and the lander which I cannot spell), we have.

      Don't you think that's amazing? Don't you think that is in the highest spirit of NASA?

      And what about the many Mars rovers and orbiters? I think you need to step back and think about how totally cool it is that we have machine rolling around on an alien planet.

      And what about the Galileo mission to Jupiter? I know that one had some problems but still, it was cool.

      And we have the New Horizons mission on its way to Pluto. Think about how cool that is! No human being today can tell you what the surface of Pluto looks like. Aren't you curious? I am! One day soon, thanks to NASA, we'll know.

      And one day (unless congress cancels it) we'll have the ion-engine powered JIMO mission to orbit Europa. How cool is that??

      Please don't sell NASA short. In the Apollo days, NASA's budget was like 1% of the GDP. It was like what we're spending in Iraq. All that, just going to NASA! Their budget hasn't gone up with inflation, it's gone way down.
      [ Parent ]
      • "The US can afford maintaining bases in Iraq, he argues. US defense spending now amounts to a bit more than 4 percent of gross domestic product, the nation's output of goods and services. It might rise as a result of Iraq bases to 5 percent of GDP, still l

      • And we have the New Horizons mission on its way to Pluto. Think about how cool that is! No human being today can tell you what the surface of Pluto looks like. Aren't you curious? I am! One day soon, thanks to NASA, we'll know.


        Allow me to paraphrase Lewis

    • Re:Excellent! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Vellmont (569020) on Monday April 03 2006, @10:49AM (#15050628)

      but at the same time, where is the spirit NASA used to have?


      Did it go somewhere? I really don't understand this attitude at all. Nasa currently still has TWO robots roaming around Mars, just successfully deployed another orbiter around Mars, landed a probe (along with the ESA) on Titan, returned material from both a comet and interstellar space, returned material from the Sun (even though it smashed into the desert), and tentatively proved yet another prediction of general relativity (frame dragging). That's all happened within the last couple years!

      I'd say the spirit of NASA is more alive than it's ever been!

      What really worries me is what it'll be like in another 5 years if all these budget cuts and diverting funds away from science missions keeps happening.
      [ Parent ]

      • Re:Excellent! (Score:3, Informative)

        by Iron Sun (227218)
        I would rather say that ESA landed a probe (along with NASA) on Titan. The probe was European, they landed it. Cassini took it there and acted as relay, thus NASA deserve the co-starring accreditation.

        Your other examples were good, there was no need to co-

    • It's great to know that something launched before I was born (1980), can still be found and active.. but at the same time, where is the spirit NASA used to have? These days it always seems about money & more money, while they whine and complain about t
      • It was the warm war that killed most of NASA.
        Apollo and many of the follow on projects where cut and cut because of the cost of Vietnam. Vietnam cost the US twice what Iraq is costing us now.
        You comment on basic research is interesting. Bell Labs and Xerox
    • "I'm not saying we shouldn't do everything possible to keep our astronauts safe, but if they hadn't contracted the shuttle out to the lowest bidder in the first place, we might have better craft."

      IANA rocket scientist, but it seems to me that the fundame

    • I'm not saying we shouldn't do everything possible to keep our astronauts safe, but if they hadn't contracted the shuttle out to the lowest bidder in the first place, we might have better craft.

      Actually, in light of consideration 1 (money), if they hadn't

    • [I]f they hadn't contracted the shuttle out to the lowest bidder in the first place, we might have better craft.

      The Space Shuttle was designed for a lifespan of 5-10 years (one week in orbit, two weeks to prep for the next stint aloft; 100 missions), a

  • Standing Ovation (Score:5, Insightful)

    by thegrassyknowl (762218) on Monday April 03 2006, @07:47AM (#15049191)
    Actually, I'd like to shake their hands. Receiving such a weak signal as a radio amateur proves that there is still a lot of life in the hobby. Kudos to the guys!!!

    PS. The message said "All of your Voyager are belong to us"

  • Don't build 'em like that anymore (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Professor_UNIX (867045) on Monday April 03 2006, @07:51AM (#15049205)
    Thank God for clean efficient nuclear power. If these had been solar powered we would've lost contact a long time ago.
    • At distances of 13.6 light hours away from any earth live it doesn't have to be clean though.

      • Re:Don't build 'em like that anymore (Score:5, Funny)

        by clintp (5169) on Monday April 03 2006, @08:09AM (#15049316)
        It wasn't always that far from Earth. Rumor has it that at one time it was actually *on* the planet. It's hard for the tree huggers to believe that we've built a nuclear power source that's functioned flawlessly for 30 years, but it's true.
        [ Parent ]
        • It had to work flawlessly (that is without radioactive leakage) only for a few days though, from mounting the power unit until start.
        • And don't forget, for those who are scaired of radiation, on average more radioactive material is coming out of a coal power plant than a nuclear power plant (that is, uncontained material, out of the exhaust)
          • Good to know (and a bit sad).

            You hear that everyone?

            We have about 14 years and counting to design and build a resupply mission! With some luck and some serious effort, we should be able to get out there and resupply/refit Voyager before they have to shut
          • IIRC, the thermocouples that produce electricity from the (thorium?) core are the weak link, the actual thermal output from the source could provide sufficient power for close to a century.

    • Re:Don't build 'em like that anymore (Score:4, Informative)

      by Waffle Iron (339739) on Monday April 03 2006, @08:08AM (#15049305)
      Thank God for clean efficient nuclear power.

      The RTG generators used in these probes are neither clean nor efficient. That's not really an issue in deep space, though.

      BTW, they still build 'em like that. The Pluto probe launched this year has one.

      [ Parent ]

  • What a coincidence (Score:3, Interesting)

    by smooth wombat (796938) on Monday April 03 2006, @08:07AM (#15049300) Journal
    I took my parents down to the Smithsonians Air & Space Annex near Dulles Airport on saturday. While we were in the space/rocketry section my dad mentioned that some hams had received a message from 'one of those spacecraft way out there'. I thought he meant Pioneer but, my dad being my dad, had obviously misremembered which spacecraft.

    I questioned him on this and he assured me that the signal reception had been confirmed.

    Not that this adds anything to the conversation other than a weird coincidence of him telling me about this and now seeing the story.

    As an aside, I would highly recommend visiting the annex if you get the chance. The number and variety of planes in the hangar is impressive. Essentially the entire history of flight, from a competitor to the Wright Brothers to ballooning and on to spaceflight, is represented. They even have the model of the mother ship from 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' and you can see the easter eggs the designers added such as an R2D2 figure, a graveyard and two airplanes.

    There are even several planes which are the only ones of their kind to exist anywhere in the world including several from WWII as well as the Enola Gay.

    It will take the entire day to see everything so plan accordingly. The parking is $12 a car not including the tolls on the Dulles Toll Road.
    • My dad told me there was something in the news about something. What an amazing coicidence that I saw it on a news website a few days later.

      Amazing.

  • Isn't this great!? (Score:3, Funny)

    by FridayBob (619244) on Monday April 03 2006, @08:07AM (#15049302)
    Now I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And to think that now even amateurs can contact Voyager 1, even though it's almost 100AU away. This makes me want to build my own compact, high-performance radio telescope, with a superconducting receiver, just so that I can commune with V'ger before I go to bed at night. :-)

  • deep space what? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ricken (797341) on Monday April 03 2006, @08:08AM (#15049306)
    Deep Space Radar Telemetry huh....

  • Um, so what? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by oni (41625) on Monday April 03 2006, @08:31AM (#15049427) Homepage
    Please correct me if I'm wrong, but people are in constant contact with Voyager. This headline makes it sound like nobody has heard from Voyager in years, but the truth is, they never lost it.

    This is just a story about how some amatures managed to find it. I mean, that's cool. Don't get me wrong. Congrats to those guys. But don't play it up to be more than that.

    • Re:Um, so what? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by updatelee (244571)
      nasa is in contact with voyager 1 and 2 aprox 12h a day using a 70m dish, amater's used a 28m dish ! thats whats incredible.
      • Obviously you haven't looked up the meaning of the word amateur in the dictionary in a while.

        Duh! I know exactly what amateur means, and also what asian means and what group means. I've been on the internets for a long time.

  • Jupiter and Saturn Close ups? (Score:3)

    by sconeu (64226) on Monday April 03 2006, @10:29AM (#15050403) Homepage Journal
    VOYAGER 1 was launched on 5. September 1977 by NASA. It transmitted the first close-up pictures of Jupiter and Saturn

    Didn't Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 do that first?
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