An artist concept depicting one of the twin
Voyager spacecraft. Humanity’s farthest and longest-lived spacecraft are
celebrating 40 years in August and September 2017. Credits: NASA
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Humanity’s farthest and longest-lived
spacecraft, Voyager 1
and 2, achieve 40 years of operation and exploration this August and September.
Despite their vast distance, they continue to communicate with NASA daily,
still probing the final frontier.
Their story has not only impacted generations of
current and future scientists and engineers, but also Earth’s culture,
including film, art and music. Each spacecraft carries a Golden Record of
Earth sounds, pictures and messages. Since the spacecraft could last billions
of years, these circular time capsules could one day be the only traces of
human civilization.
“I believe that few missions can ever match the
achievements of the Voyager spacecraft during their four decades of
exploration,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science
Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters. “They have educated us to the
unknown wonders of the universe and truly inspired humanity to continue to
explore our solar system and beyond.”
The Voyagers have set numerous records in their
unparalleled journeys. In 2012, Voyager 1, which launched on Sept. 5, 1977,
became the only spacecraft to have entered interstellar space. Voyager 2, launched on Aug. 20, 1977, is the only
spacecraft to have flown by all four outer planets – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus
and Neptune. Their numerous planetary encounters include discovering the first
active volcanoes beyond Earth, on Jupiter’s moon Io; hints of a
subsurface ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa; the most
Earth-like atmosphere in the solar system, on Saturn’s moon Titan; the jumbled-up, icy
moon Miranda at
Uranus; and icy-cold geysers on Neptune's moon Triton.
Though the spacecraft have left the planets far
behind – and neither will come remotely close to another star for 40,000 years
– the two probes still send back observations about conditions where our Sun's
influence diminishes and interstellar space begins.
Voyager 1, now almost 13 billion miles from
Earth, travels through interstellar space northward out of the plane of the
planets. The probe has informed researchers that cosmic rays, atomic nuclei
accelerated to nearly the speed of light, are as much as four times more
abundant in interstellar space than in the vicinity of Earth. This means the
heliosphere, the bubble-like volume containing our solar system's planets and
solar wind, effectively acts as a radiation shield for the planets. Voyager 1
also hinted that the magnetic field of the local interstellar medium is wrapped around the heliosphere.
Voyager 2, now almost 11 billion miles from
Earth, travels south and is expected to enter interstellar space in the next
few years. The different locations of the two Voyagers allow scientists to
compare right now two regions of space where the heliosphere interacts with the
surrounding interstellar medium using instruments that measure charged particles,
magnetic fields, low-frequency radio waves and solar wind plasma. Once Voyager
2 crosses into the interstellar medium, they will also be able to sample the
medium from two different locations simultaneously.
"None of us knew, when we launched 40 years
ago, that anything would still be working, and continuing on this pioneering
journey," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist based at Caltech in
Pasadena, California. "The most exciting thing they find in the next five
years is likely to be something that we didn't know was out there to be
discovered."
The twin Voyagers have been cosmic overachievers,
thanks to the foresight of mission designers. By preparing for the radiation
environment at Jupiter, the harshest of all planets in our solar system, the
spacecraft were well equipped for their subsequent journeys. Both Voyagers are
equipped with long-lasting power supplies, as well as redundant systems that
allow the spacecraft to switch to backup systems autonomously when necessary.
Each Voyager carries three radioisotope thermoelectric generators, devices that
use the heat energy generated from the decay of plutonium-238 – only half of it
will be gone after 88 years.
Space is almost empty, so the Voyagers are not at
a significant level of risk of bombardment by large objects. However, Voyager
1's interstellar space environment is not a complete void. It’s filled with
clouds of dilute material remaining from stars that exploded as supernovae
millions of years ago. This material doesn't pose a danger to the
spacecraft, but is a key part of the environment that the Voyager mission is
helping scientists study and characterize.
Because the Voyagers' power decreases by four
watts per year, engineers are learning how to operate the spacecraft under
ever-tighter power constraints. And to maximize the Voyagers' life spans, they
also have to consult documents written decades earlier describing commands and
software, in addition to the expertise of former Voyager engineers.
"The technology is many generations old, and
it takes someone with 1970s design experience to understand how the spacecraft
operate and what updates can be made to permit them to continue operating today
and into the future," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager based at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
Team members estimate they will have to turn off
the last science instrument by 2030. However, even after the spacecraft go
silent, they’ll continue on their trajectories at their present speed of more
than 30,000 mph (48,280 kilometers per hour), completing an orbit within the
Milky Way every 225 million years.
The Voyager spacecraft were built by JPL, which
continues to operate both. The Voyager missions are part of the NASA
Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of SMD.
NASA's
Voyager 1 spacecraft launched atop its Titan/Centaur-6 launch vehicle from the
Kennedy Space Centre Launch Complex in Florida on September 5, 1977, at 8:56
a.m. local time. Image Credit: NASA
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NASA
Successfully Fires Voyager 1 Thrusters After 37 Years
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft -- cruising
interstellar space billions of miles from Earth -- was back on the right track
Friday thanks to thrusters that were fired up for the first time in 37 years.
The unmanned spaceship was launched along with
its twin, Voyager 2, more than 40 years ago to explore the outer planets of our
solar system, traveling further than any human-made object in history. But after decades of operation, the
"attitude control thrusters" that turn the spacecraft by firing tiny
"puffs" had degraded. The small adjustments are needed to turn
Voyager's antenna toward Earth, allowing it to continue sending communications.
"At 13 billion miles from Earth, there's no
mechanic shop nearby to get a tune-up," NASA said in a news release.
Experts at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in California decided to turn to four backup thrusters that were last used on November
8, 1980.
"The Voyager flight team dug up decades-old
data and examined the software that was coded in an outdated assembler
language, to make sure we could safely test the thrusters," said Chris
Jones, chief engineer at JPL.
The engineers fired up the thrusters on Tuesday
and tested their ability to turn Voyager using 10-millisecond pulses. Then they
waited 19 hours, 35 minutes for the test results to arrive at an antenna in
Goldstone, California.
Turns out the thrusters worked just fine. "The Voyager team got more excited each time
with each milestone in the thruster test. The mood was one of relief, joy and
incredulity after witnessing these well-rested thrusters pick up the baton as
if no time had passed at all," said Todd Barber, a JPL propulsion
engineer.
Being able to use the backup thrusters means the
lifespan of Voyager 1 has been extended by two or three years, added Suzanne
Dodd, project manager for Voyager.
NASA plans to switch over to the formerly dormant
thrusters in January. They will likely also conduct similar tests on the backup
thrusters on Voyager 2.
Scientists still hear from the Voyager spacecraft
daily, and expect to get data for about another decade. Astronomy textbooks were rewritten on a wide
scale thanks to the Voyager spacecraft, which zoomed past Jupiter, Saturn,
Neptune and Uranus.
The plutonium-powered spaceships will continue
until they finally run out of fuel, and will then orbit in the center of the
Milky Way galaxy.
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