Discussion
Every time I read a little bit about Voyager I have to remind myself this all happened 40 years ago.
There is something quite remarkable that we could do that back then but in 2024 I still have to stand on one leg with my arm almost hanging out the window to make a phone call on my mobile
There is something quite remarkable that we could do that back then but in 2024 I still have to stand on one leg with my arm almost hanging out the window to make a phone call on my mobile
Good to hear. Thinking about how incredibly far Voyager has travelled and yet how tiny that distance is in interstellar terms makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Apollo and Shuttle rockets may win the sound and fury competition but the Voyager probes are the standout achievements of NASA as far as I am concerned.
Apollo and Shuttle rockets may win the sound and fury competition but the Voyager probes are the standout achievements of NASA as far as I am concerned.
skeeterm5 said:
Amazing news this morning that Voyager 1 is now back on line and sending updates back to NASA. I can see it on the DSN right now.
I am more pleased than I ought to be about this!
It was never "off line". It was in communication with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory all the time. However, it's data was scrambled due to a chip failure which has now been circumvented and it's sending meaningful data once more.I am more pleased than I ought to be about this!
And don't forget there are two Voyagers - both of which are still functioning.
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hstewie said:
hstewie said: Every time I read a little bit about Voyager I have to remind myself this all happened 40 years ago.
There is something quite remarkable that we could do that back then but in 2024 I still have to stand on one leg with my arm almost hanging out the window to make a phone call on my mobile
It's now closer to 50 years. I had just started secondary school. Our science teacher thought it was something we should all be interested in. At the time it would have been hard to believe that by 2024 man would not have returned to the Moon. In some ways it feels like human ambition peaked in the '70s.There is something quite remarkable that we could do that back then but in 2024 I still have to stand on one leg with my arm almost hanging out the window to make a phone call on my mobile
SpudLink said:
It's now closer to 50 years. I had just started secondary school. Our science teacher thought it was something we should all be interested in. At the time it would have been hard to believe that by 2024 man would not have returned to the Moon. In some ways it feels like human ambition peaked in the '70s.
Of course it didn't. It just means that our priorities in science, engineering and, of course, politics, changed.Don't forget that there have been many even more ambitious deep space probes since Voyagers1 and 2. The Voyagers were important because they gave us our first close up look at the outer planets. Since then we have had even better and more detailed looks at Jupiter, Saturn and their moons, rings etc and of course, we have seen Pluto up close too - plus a load of asteroids and comets.
So, don't think things have stopped in this area - they most certainly haven't.
Eric Mc said:
It was never "off line". It was in communication with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory all the time. However, it's data was scrambled due to a chip failure which has now been circumvented and it's sending meaningful data once more.
How on earth did they circumvent a chip failure from that distance? (actually maybe I shouldn't have used 'on earth'!)Eric Mc said:
SpudLink said:
It's now closer to 50 years. I had just started secondary school. Our science teacher thought it was something we should all be interested in. At the time it would have been hard to believe that by 2024 man would not have returned to the Moon. In some ways it feels like human ambition peaked in the '70s.
Of course it didn't. It just means that our priorities in science, engineering and, of course, politics, changed.An "app" is just a gateway to a software system. We've been doing this type of stuff since the 1940s - but we're much better at it now.
The team looking after Voyager (and the other space probes) have become experts at reprogramming these spacecraft when bits of them start malfunctioning.
With the Voyagers they've done this many times as almost from the start of the missions some aspects of the software as originally installed didn't work as intended or even mechanical issues arose - like stuck tape recorders or lubricant freezing in camera swivel mounts.
Most of these probes have had problems which needed to be overcome. The current spacecraft orbiting Jupiter - Juno - is in a very different orbit around the planet compared to what was originally intended. They discovered that there was a possible problem with the attitude thrusters which might malfunction so, even thouigh they managed to get the probe into a polar orbit around the planet, they decided not to try to circularise the orbit and leave it as an extended elipse. As it happens, the unintended orbit has yielded opportunities for different science to be carried out.
The JPL people have become masters of adaptability when it comes to getting the most out of their interplanetary probes.
The team looking after Voyager (and the other space probes) have become experts at reprogramming these spacecraft when bits of them start malfunctioning.
With the Voyagers they've done this many times as almost from the start of the missions some aspects of the software as originally installed didn't work as intended or even mechanical issues arose - like stuck tape recorders or lubricant freezing in camera swivel mounts.
Most of these probes have had problems which needed to be overcome. The current spacecraft orbiting Jupiter - Juno - is in a very different orbit around the planet compared to what was originally intended. They discovered that there was a possible problem with the attitude thrusters which might malfunction so, even thouigh they managed to get the probe into a polar orbit around the planet, they decided not to try to circularise the orbit and leave it as an extended elipse. As it happens, the unintended orbit has yielded opportunities for different science to be carried out.
The JPL people have become masters of adaptability when it comes to getting the most out of their interplanetary probes.
Eric Mc said:
SpudLink said:
It's now closer to 50 years. I had just started secondary school. Our science teacher thought it was something we should all be interested in. At the time it would have been hard to believe that by 2024 man would not have returned to the Moon. In some ways it feels like human ambition peaked in the '70s.
Of course it didn't. It just means that our priorities in science, engineering and, of course, politics, changed.Don't forget that there have been many even more ambitious deep space probes since Voyagers1 and 2. The Voyagers were important because they gave us our first close up look at the outer planets. Since then we have had even better and more detailed looks at Jupiter, Saturn and their moons, rings etc and of course, we have seen Pluto up close too - plus a load of asteroids and comets.
So, don't think things have stopped in this area - they most certainly haven't.
A phone in my pocket with access to all human knowledge just feels less ambitious than trying to establish a human colony on the Moon. Or Mars.
Just because you "feel" something doesn't mean its a reflection of reality. Perceptions can be misleading.
We have learned far more about Jupiter and Saturn SINCE Voyager.
The ommission is the fact that we haven't had any follow up missions to Uranus and Neptune - yet.
And don't forget that Voyager was opportunistic - and it was a "budget" replacement for an already cancelled programme.
The "opportunity" that Voyager exploited was that all the outer planets would be lined up on the same side of the sun in a once every 150 years or so alignment between the years 1972 to about 1990. It was felt that this was a great chance to use a single spacecraft to visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune without having to use an absurdly powerful (and expensive) booster. The original plan was called "The Grand Tour". However, that project was cancelled on cost grounds so a cheaper version was proposed using technology already developed for the Mariner missions to Venus and Mars. That became the Voyager programme.
So, Voyager was really a cut-price "Grand Tour".
We can't really do a similar fly-by project to the outer planets in the same way now as the outer planets are no longer aligned so conveniently for us.
We have learned far more about Jupiter and Saturn SINCE Voyager.
The ommission is the fact that we haven't had any follow up missions to Uranus and Neptune - yet.
And don't forget that Voyager was opportunistic - and it was a "budget" replacement for an already cancelled programme.
The "opportunity" that Voyager exploited was that all the outer planets would be lined up on the same side of the sun in a once every 150 years or so alignment between the years 1972 to about 1990. It was felt that this was a great chance to use a single spacecraft to visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune without having to use an absurdly powerful (and expensive) booster. The original plan was called "The Grand Tour". However, that project was cancelled on cost grounds so a cheaper version was proposed using technology already developed for the Mariner missions to Venus and Mars. That became the Voyager programme.
So, Voyager was really a cut-price "Grand Tour".
We can't really do a similar fly-by project to the outer planets in the same way now as the outer planets are no longer aligned so conveniently for us.
bhstewie said:
hstewie said: Every time I read a little bit about Voyager I have to remind myself this all happened 40 years ago.
There is something quite remarkable that we could do that back then but in 2024 I still have to stand on one leg with my arm almost hanging out the window to make a phone call on my mobile
Nearer to 50 years. There is something quite remarkable that we could do that back then but in 2024 I still have to stand on one leg with my arm almost hanging out the window to make a phone call on my mobile
Simpo Two said:
How on earth did they circumvent a chip failure from that distance? (actually maybe I shouldn't have used 'on earth'!)
Bit of detail here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-voyager-1-resu...Basically a chip failure and some clever code shuffling
An amazing achievement by simply having a man-made machine functioning, after all this time, in a hostile environment.
Quite a few bits are switched-off
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/
This FAQ section is also pretty good
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/frequently-asked-ques...
Quite a few bits are switched-off
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/
This FAQ section is also pretty good
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/frequently-asked-ques...
Shaoxter said:
So Voyager 1 is almost 1 light day away from Earth. On the one hand that's a very impressive 24bn km travelled without hitting anything and still functioning, on the other hand it's depressingly nowhere near the nearest star never mind potential habitable planets and solar systems.
Yeah.Douglas Adams: “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”
Until we have some sort of continuous propulsion to get us there (and slow us down for the 2nd half of the journey), then interstellar travel isn't on the cards.
SpudLink said:
Eric Mc said:
SpudLink said:
It's now closer to 50 years. I had just started secondary school. Our science teacher thought it was something we should all be interested in. At the time it would have been hard to believe that by 2024 man would not have returned to the Moon. In some ways it feels like human ambition peaked in the '70s.
Of course it didn't. It just means that our priorities in science, engineering and, of course, politics, changed.Don't forget that there have been many even more ambitious deep space probes since Voyagers1 and 2. The Voyagers were important because they gave us our first close up look at the outer planets. Since then we have had even better and more detailed looks at Jupiter, Saturn and their moons, rings etc and of course, we have seen Pluto up close too - plus a load of asteroids and comets.
So, don't think things have stopped in this area - they most certainly haven't.
A phone in my pocket with access to all human knowledge just feels less ambitious than trying to establish a human colony on the Moon. Or Mars.
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