Voyager 1

[The Picnic Wasp]

I haven't read the article yet, but wouldn't those atom remnants (whatever they might be) still be moving in the initial direction? What becomes of the theory that matter can't be created or destroyed? I should really read the article first.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Just occasionally, when I stretch my mind in a certain way thinking about this, I experience a strange pit of the stomach sensation connected to trying to fathom that space never ends and that Voyager may travel infinitely. It's not just vastness, it's forever, possibly but probably.

It won't travel infinitely. Eventually, even if it never collides with anything, all of its atoms will decay and there'll be nothing left.

Supposedly there will come a time when nothing larger than an atomic particle exists in the entire Universe.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a43129531/how-will-the-universe-end/

Wow! Quite a read. Makes religion seem easy by comparison.

[Slim]

Religion is indeed very easy.

[Slim]

Really nice short piece about the (now ancient) technology used on the Voyager probes, published a few days ago:

[Matt2112]

Religion is indeed very easy.

Indeed: the supernatural + dire adverse consequences for not obediently believing it, et viola!

As Douglas Adams put it: isn't the garden beautiful and fascinating enough without believing there are faeries at the bottom of it too?

[Slim]

Voyager 1 may be coming to the end of its useful mission, not counting the possibility of being discovered by aliens. Warning: the guy's voice is very irritating.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Yes, irritating but interesting. Boggling should be a much more respected adjective.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Religion is indeed very easy.

Indeed: the supernatural + dire adverse consequences for not obediently believing it, et viola!

As Douglas Adams put it: isn't the garden beautiful and fascinating enough without believing there are faeries at the bottom of it too?

I know that pointing out spelling and grammatical mistakes online has become offensive, but I love this one which I missed the first time around. I hope the angels at the foot of your garden eventually show you the rewards of believing in a good God, who might bestow on you the mastery of the larger violin.

[Slim]

[Fishy]

I asked about Voyager during our dark skies thing last week in Hexham.. it's just the sheer vastness and distance that just makes your brain melt.. fascinating stuff

[Fishy]

Voyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68881369

[Slim]

Voyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68881369

"the issue was resolved by shifting the affected code to different locations in the memory of the probe's computers"

Amazing to think of people moving code around in the RAM of a computer system that's 15 billion miles away and hasn't been physically touched for 46 years, by using a very slow and weak radio link.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Voyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68881369

"the issue was resolved by shifting the affected code to different locations in the memory of the probe's computers"

Amazing to think of people moving code around in the RAM of a computer system that's 15 billion miles away and hasn't been physically touched for 46 years, by using a very slow and weak radio link.

I started to try to imagine one billion miles as an understandable concept. I fully understand the number and what it signifies, but one thousand million miles is staggeringly difficult to absorb. Times that by fifteen and it becomes a pointless exercise of brain energy, and to think that in cosmological terms it's not even that far away.

[Slim]

Voyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68881369

"the issue was resolved by shifting the affected code to different locations in the memory of the probe's computers"

Amazing to think of people moving code around in the RAM of a computer system that's 15 billion miles away and hasn't been physically touched for 46 years, by using a very slow and weak radio link.

I started to try to imagine one billion miles as an understandable concept. I fully understand the number and what it signifies, but one thousand million miles is staggeringly difficult to absorb. Times that by fifteen and it becomes a pointless exercise of Brian energy, and to think that in cosmological terms it's not even that far away.

It's actually pretty close, despite the fact that it takes the light of the sun nearly a day to get there. If you were perched atop it with a paperback in one hand, you could probably read it by sunlight, just about. A bit like moonlight I think.

[dom]

Voyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68881369

"the issue was resolved by shifting the affected code to different locations in the memory of the probe's computers"

Amazing to think of people moving code around in the RAM of a computer system that's 15 billion miles away and hasn't been physically touched for 46 years, by using a very slow and weak radio link.

I started to try to imagine one billion miles as an understandable concept. I fully understand the number and what it signifies, but one thousand million miles is staggeringly difficult to absorb. Times that by fifteen and it becomes a pointless exercise of Brian energy, and to think that in cosmological terms it's not even that far away.

It's actually pretty close, despite the fact that it takes the light of the sun nearly a day to get there. If you were perched atop it with a paperback in one hand, you could probably read it by sunlight, just about. A bit like moonlight I think.

Is it using that solar power to get the on board computers, transmitters etc to work?

Edit - Google was able to answer that pretty definitively...

https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/frequently-asked-questions/fact-sheet/

The Voyagers travel too far from the Sun to use solar panels; instead, they were equipped with power sources called radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). These devices, used on other deep space missions, convert the heat produced from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity to power the spacecraft instruments, computers, radio and other systems.