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- NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 are the only man-made objects to reach interstellar space.
- The two spacecraft were launched in 1977 and may soon lose contact with Earth.
- NASA hopes to maintain contact with the spacecraft at least until its 50th anniversary in 2027.
Launched by NASA in 1977 Voyager 1 and 2 It was supposed to be a four-year assignment. For more than 46 years, they have delivered great science that goes far beyond their own research. first team of researchers I might have hoped.
From close-ups to stunning views of Jupiter, saturn’s rings, the Voyager probes helped shape our understanding of the solar system.Voyager 2 is still the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune. They have traveled farther from Earth than any other man-made object.
The solar wind blowing out of the Sun and the interstellar wind flowing back toward the Sun create a bubble known as the heliosphere. In 2012, Voyager 1 set out on an adventure. beyond the heliosphere into the interstellar space. Voyager 2 followed in 2018.
Both probes slowly drains power And soon contact with Earth will be lost.
But NASA has come up with its own solution. keep communicating Together with the two Voyagers.
“The most important thing is to keep these spacecraft operational for as long as possible,” Suzanne Dodd, NASA’s Voyager project manager, told Business Insider.
Decades of data
Early in the journey, the two spacecraft parted ways. Voyager 1 is currently 15 billion miles from Earth, and Voyager 2 is 12 billion miles away.
As the spacecraft moves away from Earth, its data becomes increasingly valuable. Voyager collects information about charged particles in interstellar space, including their energy levels, abundance, and direction of magnetic fields.
“They are unaffected by charged particles from the sun, and they are actually measuring data in interstellar space and how it changes as they move away from us,” Dodd said. .
She likens it to seeing the difference between waves breaking on the shore and waves smoothing out deep in the ocean.
“You’ll never know how those waves will change until you move further out to sea,” she says.
Dodd said it would take another 50 years for another spacecraft to reach interstellar space. That’s why Voyager is so valuable.
“They’re doing some very unique science,” she said.
NASA is turning off equipment to save power
of nuclear voyager It uses a radioisotope thermoelectric generator that converts the heat from the decay of plutonium-238 into energy. Initially, the generator provided about 450 watts of power, Dodd said.
Each year, as plutonium decays, generators lose about 4 watts few.
“The available power is down to about 220 watts,” Dodd said. The probe’s transmitter requires approximately 200 watts to operate. Their devices draw up to 6 watts each.
Voyager 1 currently has four instruments in operation, and Voyager 2 has five instruments in operation.
To save power, engineers should: turn off the heater I turned off the other systems. “We’ve done a lot of smart engineering to keep these devices running as long as possible, knowing that power is limited,” Dodd said.
“Anytime something goes wrong, it can be catastrophic,” she added.
There were a few near misses, including when both spacecraft came close. launch failed And NASA Communication with Voyager 2 has been lost. A few weeks in the summer of 2023.
By 2026, NASA may have to power down at least one of Voyager 2’s instruments.
“What we’re looking at is having the two spacecraft complement each other,” Dodd said. “One spacecraft might leave one piece of equipment running, and another might turn it off.”
In the future, choosing which equipment to keep running will become even more difficult. Dodd said scientists will likely continue to power what uses the least amount of energy.
“And it’s also an evaluation of science,” she says. “What’s the most important science we’re getting?”
Even after the spaceship loses power, they still have one more mission to complete.
If the spacecraft loses contact with Earth, the mission will end, Dodd said.
But Voyager will likely continue its journey for hundreds of thousands of years, Dodd said.
“They’ll just be floating in space, floating around the center, taking the gold record with them and heading away from us. Hopefully, some being somewhere in the future will find it.”
The Golden Record is a phonograph containing images, words, and music. Explaining human life to aliens. Each Voyager spacecraft has a copy.
Meanwhile, Dodd isn’t ready to say goodbye to Voyager just yet.
“Now in its 47th year, just the record of discoveries that have been made is pretty remarkable,” she said.
The fact that there are two spacecraft means there’s a pretty good chance that at least one of them will continue to communicate for several more years, Dodd said.
“I’m very optimistic that we’ll be able to celebrate our 50th anniversary,” she said.
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