Amazing - Voyager I still working..

the_monkey

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12688246


34 years on and it still functions in the deep cold of space.

I wonder when we will stop receiving signals from it ?

Imagine, it took 34 years for it to get 16 light hours from Earth,
Alpha centauri is 4 light years - and this is our closest neighbour :O!!!

puts it all in perspective really.

Calibos

the_monkey wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12688246


34 years on and it still functions in the deep cold of space.

Good Old Nuclear power!

From JPL website

The two Voyager spacecraft continue to operate, with some loss in subsystem redundancy, but still capable of returning science data from a full complement of VIM science instruments. Both spacecraft also have adequate electrical power and attitude control propellant to continue operating until around 2025 when the available electrical power will no longer support science instrument operation. At this time science data return and spacecraft operations will end.


Spacecraft electrical power is supplied by Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) that provided approximately 470 w of 30 volt DC power at launch. Due to the natural radioactive decay of the Plutonium fuel source, the electrical energy provided by the RTGs is continually declining. At the beginning of 2008, the power generated by Voyager 1 had dropped to ~ 285 w and to~ 287 w for Voyager 2. Both of these power levels represent better performance than the pre-launch predictions, which included a conservative degradation model for the bi-metallic thermocouples used to convert thermal energy into electrical energy. As the electrical power becomes less and less, power loads on the spacecraft must be turned off in order to avoid having demand exceed supply. As loads are turned off spacecraft capabilities are eliminated. The following table identifies the year when specific capabilities have or will end as a result of the available electrical power limitations.

Plug

Can they still take pictures?

the_monkey

Plug wrote: »

Can they still take pictures?

Be interesting if it could + transmit them back, be nice to see the sun
as a large star ....

still can't get over the fact that it took 34 years to get 16 light hours away !! jesus - really prooves that interstellar space travel is effectively impossible....

Beeker

Plug wrote: »

Can they still take pictures?

Not anymore, the cameras and other not necessary systems were shut down years ago. Before the cameras were turned of it a series of photos looking back at the solar system from 4 billion miles out on Feb 14 1990. These photos included the iconic shot of Earth in a sunbeam, named by Carl sagan "The Pale Blue Dot"

You can see the rest here.http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002344/

irishgeo

the_monkey wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12688246


34 years on and it still functions in the deep cold of space.

I wonder when we will stop receiving signals from it ?

Imagine, it took 34 years for it to get 16 light hours from Earth,
Alpha centauri is 4 light years - and this is our closest neighbour :O!!!

puts it all in perspective really.

how many light hours in a light year? Can someone do the maths and work how long it would take to reach Alpha Centauri?

i read that Alpha Centauri really is not that exciting and is a lonely star out on its own with not much to see.

I also thought aliens had taken over Voyager 1

Its going to run out of power and they have to keep switching things off?

Hows voyager II getting on?

Beeker

irishgeo wrote: »

how many light hours in a light year? Can someone do the maths and work how long it would take to reach Alpha Centauri?

8760 light hours in a light year:) At the speed of light 4 years to get to Alpha Centauri but if it was Voyager then 134,000 years:(

irishgeo wrote: »

Hows voyager II getting on?

Very well in fact. It is the farthest humanmade object in the Universe, 17.4 billion kilometers away.

the_monkey

Beeker wrote: »

8760 light hours in a light year:) At the speed of light 4 years to get to Alpha Centauri but if it was Voyager then 134,000 years:(


Very well in fact. It is the farthest humanmade object in the Universe, 17.4 billion kilometers away.

No this is Voyager I, Voyager II is "only" 14 billion KM out.

irishgeo

Beeker wrote: »

8760 light hours in a light year:) At the speed of light 4 years to get to Alpha Centauri but if it was Voyager then 134,000 years:(

:eek:

Beeker wrote: »

Very well in fact. It is the farthest humanmade object in the Universe, 17.4 billion kilometers away.

is voyager I not the furthest thing away.

Beeker

the_monkey wrote: »

No this is Voyager I, Voyager II is "only" 14 billion KM out.

My boo boo, your right!:)

slade_x

irishgeo wrote: »

how many light hours in a light year? Can someone do the maths and work how long it would take to reach Alpha Centauri?

Well the closest star to us in alpha centauri is approx 4.2 light years away or 265,606.621 astronomical units (AU) Thanks Google for the conversion

Voyager 1 is travelling at approx 3.6AU per year which is 538,552,800 kilometres (legend: / denotes divided by)

so 538,552,800 / 52 weeks
10,356,774km per week / 7 days
1,479,540km days / 24 hours =
61,647 kilometres per hour / or alternatively 0.000412084386AU per hour

So the total distance to be travelled from above: 265,606.621AU Divided by the distance it does in 1 hour (for a bit more precision) in AU: 0.000412084386AU gives us 644,544,248 hours

So the total time would be:
644544248 hours /24 hours
26846010 days /7 days
3836572 weeks /52 weeks

= 73,780 years to reach the closest star in Alpha Centauri

Since Voyager has been going for 33 years and 6 months

We just have to wait another 73,747 Years for it to get there

or just divide the 3.6AU it does in a year by the total to travel and u come up with roughly 73,779 years in total and 73,746 years from now

Unfortunately it will never get there as it will leave the solar system aiming toward the constellation Ophiuchus. And is expected to reach Interstellar Space by 2014

irishgeo wrote: »

i read that Alpha Centauri really is not that exciting and is a lonely star out on its own with not much to see.

Im not sure where you read that but alpha centauri is a binary star system composed of alpha centauri A and B. There is also the third star named Alpha Centauri C or more commonly known as Proxima Centauri which by the name we have given it, the closest star to our sun (uncommonly known as sol) at approx 4.2 light years. Our star is the lonely one

Voyagers official page maintained by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

derra

slade_x wrote: »

Well the closest star to us in alpha centauri is approx 4.2 light years away or 265,606.621 astronomical units (AU) Thanks Google for the conversion

Voyager 1 is travelling at approx 3.6AU per year which is 538,552,800 kilometres (legend: / denotes divided by)

so 538,552,800 / 52 weeks
10,356,774km per week / 7 days
1,479,540km days / 24 hours =
61,647 kilometres per hour / or alternatively 0.000412084386AU per hour

So the total distance to be travelled from above: 265,606.621AU Divided by the distance it does in 1 hour (for a bit more precision) in AU: 0.000412084386AU gives us 644,544,248 hours

So the total time would be:
644544248 hours /24 hours
26846010 days /7 days
3836572 weeks /52 weeks

= 73,780 years to reach the closest star in Alpha Centauri

Since Voyager has been going for 33 years and 6 months

We just have to wait another 73,747 Years for it to get there

or just divide the 3.6AU it does in a year by the total to travel and u come up with roughly 73,779 years in total and 73,746 years from now

Unfortunately it will never get there as it will leave the solar system aiming toward the constellation Ophiuchus. And is expected to reach Interstellar Space by 2014



Im not sure where you read that but alpha centauri is a binary star system composed of alpha centauri A and B. There is also the third star named Alpha Centauri C or more commonly known as Proxima Centauri which by the name we have given it, the closest star to our sun (uncommonly known as sol) at approx 4.2 light years. Our star is the lonely one

Voyagers official page maintained by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

Great post, mind boggling figures.
73,780 years to reach Proxima Centauri at the speed Voyager is going:eek:

Plug

What about that new form of power they are developing Nuclear something(Im probably way off the mark). I wonder what kind of time we would be looking at then?

Tomk1

slade_x wrote: »

Well the closest star to us in alpha centauri is approx 4.2 light years away or 265,606.621 astronomical units (AU) Thanks Google for the conversion

Voyager 1 is travelling at approx 3.6AU per year which is 538,552,800 kilometres (legend: / denotes divided by)

so 538,552,800 / 52 weeks
10,356,774km per week / 7 days
1,479,540km days / 24 hours =
61,647 kilometres per hour / or alternatively 0.000412084386AU per hour

So the total distance to be travelled from above: 265,606.621AU Divided by the distance it does in 1 hour (for a bit more precision) in AU: 0.000412084386AU gives us 644,544,248 hours

So the total time would be:
644544248 hours /24 hours
26846010 days /7 days
3836572 weeks /52 weeks

= 73,780 years to reach the closest star in Alpha Centauri

Since Voyager has been going for 33 years and 6 months

We just have to wait another 73,747 Years for it to get there

or just divide the 3.6AU it does in a year by the total to travel and u come up with roughly 73,779 years in total and 73,746 years from now

Unfortunately it will never get there as it will leave the solar system aiming toward the constellation Ophiuchus. And is expected to reach Interstellar Space by 2014



Im not sure where you read that but alpha centauri is a binary star system composed of alpha centauri A and B. There is also the third star named Alpha Centauri C or more commonly known as Proxima Centauri which by the name we have given it, the closest star to our sun (uncommonly known as sol) at approx 4.2 light years. Our star is the lonely one

Voyagers official page maintained by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

Is it travelling at a constant velocity, thought it was accelerating, ifso recalc.

the_monkey

Tomk1 wrote: »

Is it travelling at a constant velocity, thought it was accelerating, ifso recalc.

Doubt it's accelerating now, it would have used a slingshot effect after launch to give it more acceleration but --- oh ****, yeah you're right, it would still be accelerating ....

slade_x

the_monkey wrote: »

oh ****, yeah you're right, it would still be accelerating ....

how would it still be accelerating, voyager required gravity assist maneuvers around jupiter and then around saturn to reach enough escape velocity so to negate the suns (decelerating) gravitational influence . The last time voyager accelerated was in a gravity assist around saturn. once it left saturns system exactly how would it gain additional energy to continue accelerating?

the_monkey

slade_x wrote: »

how would it still be accelerating, voyager required gravity assist maneuvers around jupiter and then around saturn to reach enough escape velocity so to negate the suns (decelerating) gravitational influence . The last time voyager accelerated was in a gravity assist around saturn. once it left saturns system exactly how would it gain additional energy to continue accelerating?

OK, Correct, yeah was thinking after I posted that it was a bit ridiculous,
(would be past the speed of light now :eek:)
F = MA , A = F/M, so it's a finite number.

stevoslice

it is due to return in 260 years though...

Nothingbetter2d

the_monkey wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12688246


Alpha centauri is 4 light years - and this is our closest neighbour :O!!!

puts it all in perspective really.

promixa centauri is actually our closest neighbour at 4.2 AU


alpha centauri is further away at 4.37 AU

hinault

Mind boggling stuff.

I remember when Voyager was launched!

As wonderful as the creation of our little planet is, we are the proverbial grain of sand in an infinite desert.

TheUsual

Space being so vast and empty, it is quite probable that the only people who see Voyager I again will be humans in the future.

The maths does make the distance between stars quite awe inspiring. A trip to the Moon or Mars, no problem. Another star .... mmmmmmm

Nothingbetter2d

slade_x wrote: »

how would it still be accelerating, voyager required gravity assist maneuvers around jupiter and then around saturn to reach enough escape velocity so to negate the suns (decelerating) gravitational influence . The last time voyager accelerated was in a gravity assist around saturn. once it left saturns system exactly how would it gain additional energy to continue accelerating?

wouldn't cosmic radiation have a very slight pushing effect

rccaulfield

Nothingbetter2d wrote: »

promixa centauri is actually our closest neighbour at 4.2 AU


alpha centauri is further away at 4.37 AU

Light years not astronomical units surely? Have they found any extra solar planets around any of the 3 stars does anyone know? If not our interest in them will end i'd say!

the_monkey wrote: »

OK, Correct, yeah was thinking after I posted that it was a bit ridiculous,
(would be past the speed of light now :eek:)
F = MA , A = F/M, so it's a finite number.

Nowhere near the speed of light mate, or is that what u meant?;)

Rubecula

As an aside how far away is Pioneer?

hinault

Rubecula wrote: »

As an aside how far away is Pioneer?

Some info about Pioneer
http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/ThePioneers.html

No signal has been received on earth from Pioneer since the early years on the past decade.

clln

Look at the plaque Pioneer 10 carried off into the Cosmo's.
any wonder <They> never came near us?:)

John mac

Just to be pedantic,, The Sun is our nearest star..