NASA "pokes" Voyager 1 spacecraft and got a response!

[Platapus]

For a while the Voyager 1 space craft was not able to communicate any data back to the earth. This month, however, NASA sent a different command and got a response back!


It is not fully functioning, but this gives NASA engineers something to work with.


Voyager 1 is about 15,000,000,000 miles from earth and it takes radio signals 22.5 hours to travel to the spacecraft. This means that a "conversation" between earth and Voyager 1 takes 45 hours per transmission.


Voyager 1 has been operating for 46 years.



https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...-1-spacecraft/

[u crank]

That is pretty cool. Go baby go. I can imagine a million years from now this thing being found by a highly advanced civilization out there saying, "how did this low tech piece hardware get here."

Thanks for posting.

[Skybird]

"Eeeeek...! It lives...!!"

[Jimbuna]

Quite an amazing achievement.

[Gerald]

This remind me of a communication I have with a former "girlfriend"

[Sean C]

Awesome!

[August]

They sure built things to last good back in the old days.

[Reece]

Yeh, not so much Chinese crap!!

[August]

Originally Posted by Reece

Yeh, not so much Chinese crap!!

Well you know what they say about components.

[mapuc]

It is indeed an amazing achievement we have made.

I think it's time to repeat the feat and construct 2 new satellite and send them same way into outer space. These satellite shall have an another type of propulsion.

And now some off topic to the title

In a few decades from now we will lose contact with Voyager 1. It will be out of sight out of mine-Then it will return in 3-400 years from now and has changed name to V'ger

End of some off topic....

Markus

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Gerald

This remind me of a communication I have with a former "girlfriend"

Laughing. I feel your pain. We have all been there at one point or another.

In all seriousness, the exploits of the voyager series of probes is nothing short of astounding. The scientists and engineers who envisioned and put together some of these early probes like the Voyager series with the inherent limitations of the technology of their times were and are absolutely brilliant. Of course, newer probes are more advanced.

Closer to home, kinda. I have watched video's of the Cassini-Huygen and Juno probes to our Gas Giants planets, Saturn and Jupiter, respectively and their moons. Cassini released the probe Huygen into the environment and atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Huygen transmitted data and video for almost an hour.

The technology and successes that have been made with Voyager have fueled and propelled more advanced probes that continue to explore our Solar System and beyond.
I included some of the Youtube links to the Cassini and Juno missions. I hope our scientifically minded Subsim members and readers enjoy them.








https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pbxZGBgphuw

[August]

Originally Posted by mapuc

It is indeed an amazing achievement we have made.

I think it's time to repeat the feat and construct 2 new satellite and send them same way into outer space. These satellite shall have an another type of propulsion.

And now some off topic to the title

In a few decades from now we will lose contact with Voyager 1. It will be out of sight out of mine-Then it will return in 3-400 years from now and has changed name to V'ger

End of some off topic....

Markus

I don't think Voyagers have propulsion but I agree. We definitely should send out more Voyagers and in different directions.

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by August

I don't think Voyagers have propulsion but I agree. We definitely should send out more Voyagers and in different directions.

Voyager 1 was constructed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It has 16hydrazine thrusters, three-axis stabilization gyroscopes, and referencing instruments to keep the probe's radio antenna pointed toward Earth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1

[August]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

Voyager 1 was constructed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It has 16hydrazine thrusters, three-axis stabilization gyroscopes, and referencing instruments to keep the probe's radio antenna pointed toward Earth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1

I meant a main system not stabilizers. The Voyagers use gravity as their main source of propulsion.

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by August

I meant a main system not stabilizers. The Voyagers use gravity as their main source of propulsion.

I understand what you mean. To be completely honest, I have no idea how they are set up. I know Cassini used an elaborate set of maneuvers to as you said, use gravity as a " slingshot " to catapult itself into space. I believe it also used thrusters to gain velocity. Casssini was in my opinion a more ambitious probe. One of these probes used Ion engines for propulsion as well.

When Cassini arrived at Saturn, It executed an elaborate elliptical orbit that consistently went between Saturn and it's rings to " burn " off speed. The Shuttles did the same maneuvers in executing S turns to bleed off energy and speed before landing.

With Cassini, this all had to be done before they could even attempt an orbit insertion. Cassini had spent 13 years in orbit around Saturn, collecting data.