Voyager near Solar System's edge


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Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, has reached a new milestone in its quest to leave the Solar System.

Now 17.4bn km (10.8bn miles) from home, the veteran probe has detected a distinct change in the flow of particles that surround it.

These particles, which emanate from the Sun, are no longer travelling outwards but are moving sideways.

It means Voyager must be very close to making the jump to interstellar space - the space between the stars.

Edward Stone, the Voyager project scientist, lauded the explorer and the fascinating science it continues to return 33 years after launch.

Voyager 1 was launched on 5 September 1977, and its sister spacecraft, Voyager 2, on 20 August 1977.

The Nasa probes' initial goal was to survey the outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, a task completed in 1989.

They were then despatched towards deep space, in the general direction of the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy.

Sustained by their radioactive power packs, the probes' instruments continue to function well and return data to Earth, although the vast distance between them and Earth means a radio message now has a travel time of about 16 hours.

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Voyager 1 was launched after Voyager 2? Strange.

It's got to be odd being someone at NASA. They launched these things 20 odd years ago and they're still providing information!

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^ The Voyager 1 probe was launched on September 5, 1977, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a Titan IIIE/Centaur carrier rocket, two weeks after its twin space probe, Voyager 2 had been launched on August 20, 1977. Despite being launched after Voyager 2, Voyager 1 was sent off on a somewhat shorter, quicker trajectory, so that it reached both Jupiter and Saturn before its sister space probe did.

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Voyager 1 was launched after Voyager 2? Strange.

It's got to be odd being someone at NASA. They launched these things 20 odd years ago and they're still providing information!

Actually it's more like 33 years ago (quite a big difference) and it's surprising their instruments still work well.

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Actually it's more like 33 years ago (quite a big difference) and it's surprising their instruments still work well.

Oh yeah. My maths was off, too busy trying to work at the same time! :laugh: But yeah, the point still stands that it's impressive.

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Well the old administration, fired all the smart people or slowly replaced them with family members lol... hence the big spender, cluster f*ck we call NASA exists today :whistle:

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Actually it's more like 33 years ago (quite a big difference) and it's surprising their instruments still work well.

Well, they don't make 'em like they used to!!! :rofl:

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has to suck being a scientist that has to wait 32 hours for a response when asking the craft for information

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Can't they post images or the edge of the solar system, we've seen images from Voyager before.

Well, not like there's anything to see there...

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I'am impress that the spacecraft still works after 33 years. I wounder how fast these thing are going? Mach 50 or so?

Lets hope other being are good being when they run into these things. I am not ready for Independent Day II. :alien:

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The Voyager launchings were a big deal at the time. In '77 I was 6, and it was a big year for me. Star Wars had started a few months before, and then there was this. Space and (and its associated concepts) were really wowing my young brain.

To think that device is at this moment hurtling through space at an almost (really, I can't truthfully picture it) incomprehensible speed is almost mind-boggling.

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Not in vacuum as far as I know.

Electromagnetic waves do not require air to travel, hence how the sun's light and heat gets to us.

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I'am impress that the spacecraft still works after 33 years. I wounder how fast these thing are going? Mach 50 or so?

Lets hope other being are good being when they run into these things. I am not ready for Independent Day II. :alien:

?? There hasn't been an independant day I yet. ?? :blink:

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It's got to be odd being someone at NASA. They launched these things 20 odd years ago and they're still providing information!

Let alone being as distant as they are, with no chance of a repair

And my Xbox died within a year under my TV

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I'am impress that the spacecraft still works after 33 years. I wounder how fast these thing are going? Mach 50 or so?

Lets hope other being are good being when they run into these things. I am not ready for Independent Day II. :alien:

Pretty much, they're going 10.5 miles/sec which almost comes out to be Mach 50. It's pretty impressive since they weigh as much as a full-size car.

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this really is amazing, for something of that age to continue to operate this well. 1977 wasn't exactly the dawn of space travel but it was still fairly new and looking at the computer systems of that day.

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Pretty much, they're going 10.5 miles/sec which almost comes out to be Mach 50. It's pretty impressive since they weigh as much as a full-size car.

But unlike your full-size car that is subject to gravity and air resistance, these spacecraft are not and can move at that speed quite easily.

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Pretty much, they're going 10.5 miles/sec which almost comes out to be Mach 50. It's pretty impressive since they weigh as much as a full-size car.

Amazing Voyager hasn't smacked into something. ;)

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