Image: NASA/JPL
Launched nearly 45 years ago, the Voyager program capsules have about three million times less memory than modern cell phones and transmit data about 38,000 times slower than a 5G internet connection, according to a post from the Nasa. Yet they continue to be a very valuable tool for space exploration.
Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, and was quickly followed by the launch of Voyager 1 on September 5.
Since then, NASA’s twin Voyager probes are the only probes to have ever explored interstellar space and have visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Study the Sun
Researchers are using Voyager observations to better understand the heliosphere, the protective bubble created by the Sun’s magnetic field and the outflow of the solar wind, and get a more complete picture of the Sun.
“Over the past 45 years, the Voyager missions have played a critical role in providing this knowledge and helping to change our understanding of the Sun and its influence in ways no other spacecraft can,” said Nicola. Fox, director of the heliophysics division at NASA headquarters in Washington.
The Voyager probes also carry a gold disc (pictured below) which contains sights and sounds of life on Earth, in case someone – or something – encounters the space probes. Due to the rate at which gold decays in space, the disks will likely last for over a billion years.
The cover of the gold disc contains coded instructions for anything that might encounter it in space. Image: NASA/JPL.
Ships still hold discoveries
With such a durable technology comes its challenges. In 2019, the team had to make the decision to turn off all non-essential systems and heaters that were once considered essential due to energy loss from the decay of plutonium in the generators.
The Voyagers team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California manages and operates the Voyagers and works to solve these problems.
Recently, Voyager 1 ran into an issue where readings from the probe’s articulation and attitude control system don’t reflect what’s actually happening on board, NASA says. Engineers are working on fixing this issue, but otherwise both capsules are working normally.
“Voyagers have continued to make amazing discoveries, inspiring a new generation of scientists and engineers,” said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at JPL, the Propulsion Laboratory which is the main center for robotic exploration. of the solar system.
“We don’t know how long the mission will continue, but we can be sure that the spacecraft have even more scientific surprises in store for us as they get further away from Earth. »
Source: ZDNet.com