This is pretty cool.

[werepossum]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/06/18/nasa-voyager-1-spacecraft-nears-interstellar-space/

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has encountered a new environment more than 11 billion miles from Earth, suggesting that the venerable probe is on the cusp of leaving the solar system.
The Voyager 1 probe has entered a region of space with a markedly higher flow of charged particles from beyond our solar system, researchers said. Mission scientists suspect this increased flow indicates that the spacecraft — currently 11.1 billion miles (17.8 billion kilometers) from its home planet — may be poised to cross the boundary into interstellar space.
"The laws of physics say that someday Voyager will become the first human-made object to enter interstellar space, but we still do not know exactly when that someday will be," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, in a statement.
"The latest data indicate that we are clearly in a new region where things are changing more quickly," Stone added. "It is very exciting. We are approaching the solar system's frontier."

For the first time, a functioning man-made object appears poised to leave our solar system. How cool is that? In addition, we're still getting tons of useful information from a probe launched in 1977.

 

[alzan]

No doubt! The amount of knowledge we've gained from Voyager I & II is astounding. I had nothing to do with the missions but I swell with pride each time mission progress is reported. We've had many successful probe missions since then but the data from Voyager(s) seems special somehow.

I just hope the environment it's currently in doesn't affect the flow of data from it.

 

[Jaskalas]

I'm proud of the men and women who could build those probes.

I'm sad to ask, are we capable of doing it again?
Modern tech is nice, but is it too fragile to last that long?

 

[gevorg]

:thumbsup:

Space race was the only good thing about Cold War.

 

[CrackRabbit]

I'm proud of the men and women who could build those probes.

I'm sad to ask, are we capable of doing it again?
Modern tech is nice, but is it too fragile to last that long?

I would say so, Spirit, Opportunity and Cassini are proof of it.
Space tech is extremely hardened, but because of that it is well behind the bleeding edge of the tech we take for granted every day.

This, of course, means in a couple hundred years when V'ger comes looking for its creator we could be in trouble.

 

[Ninjahedge]

I am just waiting for it to hit the edge of the giant holographic screen at the edge of the solar system......


The Truman Universe.

 

[Ninjahedge]

I would say so, Spirit, Opportunity and Cassini are proof of it.
Space tech is extremely hardened, but because of that it is well behind the bleeding edge of the tech we take for granted every day.

Of course, in a couple hundred years when V'ger comes looking for it's creator we could be in trouble.

We still have Priceline... I mean William Shatner!

 

[(sic)Klown12]

Carl Sagan would be absolutely delighted that Voyager is still helping science all these years later.

 

[alzan]

I am just waiting for it to hit the edge of the giant holographic screen at the edge of the solar system......


The Truman Universe.

The world is but a stage....

 

[trenchfoot]

From a tax dollar point of view, I'd say we got so much more than our money's worth from V'ger. A worthwhile investment if I ever saw one, AND a whole Star Trek movie about it to boot.

edit - yes, I am an outed closet Trekkie.

 

[Atreus21]

How long before we are unable to communicate with it any more? How far from the earth can we communicate with a probe?

 

[jackstar7]

How long before we are unable to communicate with it any more? How far from the earth can we communicate with a probe?

I need to double-check, but I believe we just keep receiving. I don't think we send at this point. But it should keep transmitting for a long while.

From el Wiki:

"Voyager 1 has three large radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). Each RTG contains 24 pressed plutonium-238 oxide spheres. The heat from the spheres generated about 157 watts of electric power at the launch, with the remainder being dissipated as waste heat. Hence there was a total of about 470 watts of electric power provided by the three RTGs.

The power output of the RTGs does decline over time, but the RTGs of Voyager 1 will continue to support some of its operations through about 2025."

 

[ichy]

I need to double-check, but I believe we just keep receiving. I don't think we send at this point. But it should keep transmitting for a long while.

Check out http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

NASA is still sending commands to them in addition to receiving data.

 

[JTsyo]

I'm just waiting for it to accidentally hit the wormhole at the edge of our solar system, thereby opening the next phase in the human space race. That's from reading too many sci-fi novels.

 

[alzan]

How long before we are unable to communicate with it any more? How far from the earth can we communicate with a probe?

I don't think NASA knows; Voyager I has entered an area where there's increased flow of charged particles, those may lead to problems with communication, transmission or reception.

It's fascinating as hell though.

 

[Rainsford]

I'm proud of the men and women who could build those probes.

I'm sad to ask, are we capable of doing it again?
Modern tech is nice, but is it too fragile to last that long?

Modern tech is definitely up to the challenge, particularly if it's designed with longevity in mind. For one thing, the cheapness, size and power requirements of a lot of modern technology means we could have many, MANY backup systems.

If there is something preventing us from repeating engineering marvels like this, it's will and drive, not tech. Achieving great things, in space or anywhere else, doesn't really seem to be a priority any more for too many of us. Hell, we're actually almost moving backwards when it comes to space since we lost the capability to send people up there (don't worry though, the Russians and the Chinese are on it). Luckily we're also getting to the point where driven and well funded private companies can get in the game, so there's still hope for us yet

 

[werepossum]

If we'd have understood how well it would work, and for how long, we could have built fairly inexpensive relay satellites to follow it and maximize the knowledge we gain. Bit late now though.

 

[ichy]

If we'd have understood how well it would work, and for how long, we could have built fairly inexpensive relay satellites to follow it and maximize the knowledge we gain. Bit late now though.

I doubt that. The original Voyager mission was only to to fly by Jupiter and Saturn. The scientists running the program hoped to get a Uranus & Neptune extension for Voyager 2 but even that wasn't guaranteed from the start. The fact that they've operated as long as they have is pretty cool, but it doesn't have much of anything to do with their original mission. Besides, distance isn't the limiting factor when it comes to communications, it's power. The current prediction is that when communications are lost it'll be because the RTGs can no longer supply enough electricity.

Edit: If NASA had had any more money to spend they would've used it to build something a little closer to what the original TOPS program envisioned. More details are here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=salvaging-nasas-grand-tour

 

[Corn]

V'ger will be our doom.........

 

[werepossum]

I doubt that. The original Voyager mission was only to to fly by Jupiter and Saturn. The scientists running the program hoped to get a Uranus & Neptune extension for Voyager 2 but even that wasn't guaranteed from the start. The fact that they've operated as long as they have is pretty cool, but it doesn't have much of anything to do with their original mission. Besides, distance isn't the limiting factor when it comes to communications, it's power. The current prediction is that when communications are lost it'll be because the RTGs can no longer supply enough electricity.

Edit: If NASA had had any more money to spend they would've used it to build something a little closer to what the original TOPS program envisioned. More details are here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=salvaging-nasas-grand-tour

Transmission power drops with the square of the distance, so the farther the transmission distance, the more required power. By sending relay satellites and thus narrowing the distance, we could receive with less transmitted power. Thus information that we will no longer be able to receive from Voyager could be received by the relay satellite and transmitted at higher power/shorter distance back to Earth. My point was not that it would enhance the original primary mission of planetary study but that it could still be sending interesting data from its secondary interstellar mission that we can't otherwise get beyond the point at which we'll be able to get those data from Voyager itself. (I am assuming here that Voyager's RTGs will be able to power at least some of its instrument packages beyond the date where it will be able to power those packages as well as generate enough power for transmission to Earth and that sufficient hydrazine and hydrazine line heater power would remain for the minimal attitude adjustments necessary to track a trailing same-trajectory relay satellite.)

NASA could also transmit more data (i.e. higher frequency) and would have little or no need of the DTR since the relay satellite could save the received data and re-transmit when a signal station was available to receive.

 

[Ninjahedge]

WP, the problem is that it is easier to coordinate two objects through a rotational relay system than 5.

The math involved to send another out that would be able to be targeted and relay the signal to another, etc etc gets astronomical (no pun) very quickly.

It may work, but chances are, it will not be equipment failure that renders it useless very quickly.... (Besides, we are talking about scale of antennae here too..... Maybe a giant orbiting antenna would work better than a string of small moving ones.....)

 

[Thump553]

Truely amazing, especially when you consider it was built and launched when $100 four function calculators were the cutting edge.

I had no idea the Voyagers were still plugging away, haven't heard anything about them in years.

 

[zsdersw]

From 2009.

The boundary where the solar wind stops has already been crossed by Voyager 1 I believe.

 

[ichy]

My point was not that it would enhance the original primary mission of planetary study but that it could still be sending interesting data from its secondary interstellar mission that we can't otherwise get beyond the point at which we'll be able to get those data from Voyager itself. (I am assuming here that Voyager's RTGs will be able to power at least some of its instrument packages beyond the date where it will be able to power those packages as well as generate enough power for transmission to Earth and that sufficient hydrazine and hydrazine line heater power would remain for the minimal attitude adjustments necessary to track a trailing same-trajectory relay satellite.)

I know we're splitting hairs at this point but I think that if NASA had had any extra money for the Voyager program they would have either built an additional probe or improved the capabilities of the current ones (which amazingly enough are just rehashed Mariner designs) rather than spending money on relays. It's cool that the Voyagers are still transmitting science data, but the current mission pales in significance compared to what they accomplished during their planetary encounters.

Re: power, I'm not sure that their radio transmitters can be operated at reduced power, I'm pretty sure that they're either on or off.

Oh, one additional problem with a relay probe would be that they would not be able to follow Voyager's trajectory. They took advantage of a very unique planetary alignment for their grand tour, and any trailing relay that was launched a year or two later would not be able to do the same thing.

 

[ichy]

Truely amazing, especially when you consider it was built and launched when $100 four function calculators were the cutting edge.

What's even more amazing is that the basic Voyager design was not state of the art when it was launched. As I mentioned they use an updated Mariner design, which itself started off as an updated version of the Ranger probes that were sent to the moon. Part of me is sad that the much more ambitious TOPS design never got funded, but it's also inspiring to see how they accomplished so much on a relative shoestring.