After 48 Years, Voyager Scientist Confronts the Mission's Final Years (gizmodo.com) 22
"I started working on Voyager in 1977," the Voyager mission's project scientist told Gizmodo Saturday in a new interview. "It was my first job out of college."
35 years later, a Voyager probe became the first spacecraft to cross into interstellar space in 2012, with Voyager 2 following in 2018. But while each Voyager spacecraft carries 10 scientific instruments, all but three have now been turned off to conserve power, Gizmodo writes. "The two spacecraft now have enough power to operate for another year or so before engineers are forced to turn off two more instruments..." Voyager Mission Project Scientist Linda Spilker: The number of people that are working on and flying Voyager is a whole lot smaller than it was in the planetary days... The challenge was, can we reach the heliopause? We didn't know where it was, we had no idea how far away it was. We got to Neptune, and then we thought, "well, maybe it's just another 10 [astronomical units] or so, a little bit further, a little bit further." And so every time we got a little bit further, the modelers would go back, scratch their heads and say, "ah, it could be a little bit more, a little bit farther away," and so on and on that continued, until finally, Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause in 2012...
Gizmodo: Is it an emotional decision to turn off Voyager's instruments?
Spilker: I was talking to the cosmic ray instrument lead, and I said, "Wow, this must really be tough for you to see your instrument turned off." He helped build the instrument in the early 1970s. This instrument that's been sending you data, and that's been part of your life for over 50 years now. And he said, it was hard to think about turning it off for the whole team. It's kind of like losing a best friend, or someone that's been a part of your life for so many years, and then suddenly, it's silent. At the same time, there's this pride that you were part of that, and your instrument got so much great data — so it's a mix of emotions...
The spacecraft had a lot of redundancy on it, so that means two of every computer and two of all the key components. We've been able to turn off those backup units, but we're now at the point where, to really get a significant amount of power, all that's left are some of the science instruments to turn off. So, that's where we're at... How cold can the lines get before they freeze? How cold can some of these other components get before they stop working? So that's another challenge. Then there are individual tiny thrusters that align the spacecraft and keep that antenna pointed at the Earth so we can send the data back, and they're very slowly clogging up with little bits of silica, and so their puffs are getting weaker and weaker. That's another challenge that we're going through to balance.
But we're hopeful that we can get one, possibly two, spacecraft to the 50th anniversary in 2027. Voyager's golden anniversary, and perhaps even into the early 2030s with one, maybe two, science instruments.
"We're well past the warranty of four years..." Spilker says at one point. And "We're still working and thinking about an interstellar probe that would go much, much farther than Voyager.
"You're talking about a multi-generation mission."
35 years later, a Voyager probe became the first spacecraft to cross into interstellar space in 2012, with Voyager 2 following in 2018. But while each Voyager spacecraft carries 10 scientific instruments, all but three have now been turned off to conserve power, Gizmodo writes. "The two spacecraft now have enough power to operate for another year or so before engineers are forced to turn off two more instruments..." Voyager Mission Project Scientist Linda Spilker: The number of people that are working on and flying Voyager is a whole lot smaller than it was in the planetary days... The challenge was, can we reach the heliopause? We didn't know where it was, we had no idea how far away it was. We got to Neptune, and then we thought, "well, maybe it's just another 10 [astronomical units] or so, a little bit further, a little bit further." And so every time we got a little bit further, the modelers would go back, scratch their heads and say, "ah, it could be a little bit more, a little bit farther away," and so on and on that continued, until finally, Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause in 2012...
Gizmodo: Is it an emotional decision to turn off Voyager's instruments?
Spilker: I was talking to the cosmic ray instrument lead, and I said, "Wow, this must really be tough for you to see your instrument turned off." He helped build the instrument in the early 1970s. This instrument that's been sending you data, and that's been part of your life for over 50 years now. And he said, it was hard to think about turning it off for the whole team. It's kind of like losing a best friend, or someone that's been a part of your life for so many years, and then suddenly, it's silent. At the same time, there's this pride that you were part of that, and your instrument got so much great data — so it's a mix of emotions...
The spacecraft had a lot of redundancy on it, so that means two of every computer and two of all the key components. We've been able to turn off those backup units, but we're now at the point where, to really get a significant amount of power, all that's left are some of the science instruments to turn off. So, that's where we're at... How cold can the lines get before they freeze? How cold can some of these other components get before they stop working? So that's another challenge. Then there are individual tiny thrusters that align the spacecraft and keep that antenna pointed at the Earth so we can send the data back, and they're very slowly clogging up with little bits of silica, and so their puffs are getting weaker and weaker. That's another challenge that we're going through to balance.
But we're hopeful that we can get one, possibly two, spacecraft to the 50th anniversary in 2027. Voyager's golden anniversary, and perhaps even into the early 2030s with one, maybe two, science instruments.
"We're well past the warranty of four years..." Spilker says at one point. And "We're still working and thinking about an interstellar probe that would go much, much farther than Voyager.
"You're talking about a multi-generation mission."
Re:Too slow (Score:5, Interesting)
How is that possible since too much momentum would make it hard to loop back toward the inner solar system for multiple passes? Too much speed and even the gravity of Jupiter cannot pull it say 180 degrees around. (Wonder what the max is?)
Voyager 1 gained speed from each of the 4 biggest planets (IINM) due to a lucky alignment. Hard to top that.
By the way, such a technique is probably the best way to terraform Mars: use incrementally larger asteroids to trade momentum back and forth with various planets to eventually control an army of icy asteroids to slam into Mars, giving it an ocean and atmosphere. It's kind of like a domino chain where each domino is slightly bigger than the last until they are ginormous.
If done precisely, very little Earth fuel is needed since it's swiping energy from planet momentum. And we won't even ask the planets for permission to borrow a cup of momentum, we just take it, Neener Neener!
(An interesting sci-fi plot is swiping so much momentum that planet orbital resonance gets thrown off kilter, sending planets flying into odd orbits.)
Frightening (Score:2)
Re:Too slow (Score:5, Informative)
Got to do more slingshots to get a probe going at least ten times faster.
Voyagers 1 and 2 actually did use slingshots [nasa.gov] as part of their mission. (aka gravity assists.)
If they appeared to be "slow" perhaps it was because they were "grand tour" missions, intended to visit more than one planet. And they did: together they visited all 4 gas giants -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:2)
If we can still build probes that last 50+ years (and that is not at all certain) we could perhaps plot a course that relied on slingshots over the course of decades, not a few years between planets. Possibly an elliptical course that returned to our Solar System more than once to build sufficient momentum (ok, velocity) to exceed the Voyager reaches. Going much faster, though, means we could find ourselves receiving data years after acquisition. I'm sure it's worth it.
Power sources are the real problem I t
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Once there is no longer any communication from it to Earth and with nothing else to do it'll just continue on through interstellar space slowly accumulating stray bits of matter which will continue to be caught up in it's small gravity well. Which over the course of many years will serve to continue multiplying it's overall mass by insane proportions. Bombarded by all the cosmic rays over the course of centuries will have nearly wiped most all of the legible identifiable marks from it's hull, and affected i
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V'ger didn't happen on its own. It was modified by the inhabitants of the Machine planet. [fandom.com]
Hats off (Score:5, Insightful)
Let’s just appreciate the work and engineering that went into these probes and the current teams of people keeping them running.
Re:Hats off (Score:4, Interesting)
Astro-MacGyvers
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Indeed, a fantastically long life and productive, both the spacecraft and engineers still supporting it.
These are the oldest spacecrafts still operational.
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For some acronyms and abbreviations it's sometimes considered acceptable, and it seems to be growing in common usage. The momentum may be against you.
Re: Usually people apostrophe pluralize (Score:2)
I must have a lot of power with management, the headline has been corrected.
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Next time I'll purchase them an RV and show you up!
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PS, Are you talking about "NASA's" (TFA) or "Mission's"?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I've spent the better part of a century knowing that with rare exceptions the apostrophe is used only for the possessive.
Goodness, you must actually be a vampire.
I agree with you, BTW.
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ST: TMP (Score:2)
Doesn't it go through a wormhole and get taken over by an alien intelligence?
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Doesn't it go through a wormhole and get taken over by an alien intelligence?
Close. You're thinking of Voyager 6 [youtu.be].
Just attended a presentation on Voyager (Score:2)