The article mentions the thrusters used are the Aerojet Rocketdyne MR-103 [0]. They look pretty delicate, but only need to provide about 1N of thrust. Visually I was expecting something like the MR-107S in the same datasheet.
I ended up getting voyager "golden record" LPs for a friend's bday [1], which was a pretty neat present. Turns out her bf's uncle produced one of those records in the 90's.
Even if science data won't likely be collected after 2025, engineering data could continue to be returned for several more years. The two Voyager spacecraft could remain in the range of the Deep Space Network through about 2036, depending on how much power the spacecraft still have to transmit a signal back to Earth.
They'll definitely keep collecting science data until it no longer transmits. They keep closing in on ending data collection and then scrounge up funding. It's a human milestone, we'll listen until the end. That said, when the digital world ends in 2038 it'll be moot anyway, but we'll record our stellar wanderer's name on stone tablets.
Posts like these are fascinating, but constant comments like these just take me entirely out of the story:
> [far away from earth,] there's no mechanic shop nearby to get a tune-up.
Did someone from marketing write this to dumb it down or something? It seems so random when two sentences down they talk about milliseconds and assembler language without explaining the terms.
Yes. This is based on Voyager 1's heliopause exit back in 2012 at 121 AU. It is presently at about 141 AU.
Voyager 2 is at at about 117 AU now.
The uncertainty in "the next few years" statement is because of the assumption is that the heliopause will occur at roughly the same distance that Voyager 1 found it at.
Whomever collects this piece of 'space junk' in the far distant future would be puzzled how that every power source had been eeked out and used, with no remaining systems functional they will wonder how it got to that state. To them it will be like one of those bicycles that has no brakes, a couple of punctures and no working gears - how did it get there, what broke first?
Anybody who can come up with a method of "collecting" it that doesn't smash it into millions of unidentifiable tiny pieces is probably smart enough to figure out the rest!
It would be interesting if humans in a distant future figured out how to traverse vast distances of space quickly and then stumbled upon voyager 1 and the golden disc. I imagine by that time everything they see on that disc may seem very foreign to them.
Neat timing on this resubmit. I just watched The Farthest on a flight this week. It's a neat movie that gives interesting (and human) context to the mission and those who executed it. I'd definitely recommend it as a watch for anyone even nominally interested in space exploration.
Reading the Wikipedia entry, I was stuck by how the founders list control of their firm, "Unhappily for us, no bank would lend us money; bankers hadn’t yet come to think of rocketry as a stable business."
Interestingly, a tire company acquired majority control!
So, if you are ever in Miami, you can take a 45 minute drive down to their old facility at the edge of the Everglades in Homestead. Bring/rent a mountain bike because the last 2 miles are closed road. Great place to run.
Even cooler, there is still a test missile in a silo in one of the remaining structures. There is all sorts of interesting rusting hulks out there.
Can anyone explain to me why is this being downvoted? I have coded in assembly since the 1970's and still do today. It is essential for some tasks and when these spacecraft were designed, it was the obvious choice. I just don't understand why NASA would call it "outdated".
This reminds me of those many YouTube vidoes showing extremely old machinery such as cars being started after many decades of inactivity. There's a certain indescribable feeling when something like this happens.
Your phone will be outdated and replaced in three years. Hard to replace a probe in space. For this reason it is a good idea to design phones to last 3 years and space probs to last decades.
I've seen this article mentioned on several sites. The title is terrible, misleading clickbait that seem to indicate that the Voyager 1 has been unresponsive for 37 years. What nonsense! This is really about how NASA found they could use a set of thrusters that had been idle for 37 years. A much better discussion can be found at this NASA page:
[+] [-] dschuler|8 years ago|reply
I ended up getting voyager "golden record" LPs for a friend's bday [1], which was a pretty neat present. Turns out her bf's uncle produced one of those records in the 90's.
[0] http://www.rocket.com/files/aerojet/documents/Capabilities/P...
[1] http://www.ozmarecords.com/product/voyager-golden-record-3xl...
[+] [-] asciimo|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DonHopkins|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jstanley|8 years ago|reply
Do you know if there are any DIY attempts to recover the data from these replica records?
[+] [-] asciimo|8 years ago|reply
Even if science data won't likely be collected after 2025, engineering data could continue to be returned for several more years. The two Voyager spacecraft could remain in the range of the Deep Space Network through about 2036, depending on how much power the spacecraft still have to transmit a signal back to Earth.
[+] [-] burnte|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] okket|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lucb1e|8 years ago|reply
> [far away from earth,] there's no mechanic shop nearby to get a tune-up.
Did someone from marketing write this to dumb it down or something? It seems so random when two sentences down they talk about milliseconds and assembler language without explaining the terms.
[+] [-] mrhappyunhappy|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] biot|8 years ago|reply
Is the lack of precision on the date because they don’t know precisely where the boundary of interstellar space is?
[+] [-] codewritinfool|8 years ago|reply
Voyager 2 is at at about 117 AU now.
The uncertainty in "the next few years" statement is because of the assumption is that the heliopause will occur at roughly the same distance that Voyager 1 found it at.
[+] [-] Theodores|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jstanley|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mrhappyunhappy|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DrScump|8 years ago|reply
Original submittal, 740+ points: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15827369
[+] [-] dataflow|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] swasheck|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reeteshv|8 years ago|reply
Reading the Wikipedia entry, I was stuck by how the founders list control of their firm, "Unhappily for us, no bank would lend us money; bankers hadn’t yet come to think of rocketry as a stable business."
Interestingly, a tire company acquired majority control!
[+] [-] codemogul|8 years ago|reply
Even cooler, there is still a test missile in a silo in one of the remaining structures. There is all sorts of interesting rusting hulks out there.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerojet#Florida_facility_and_c...
[2] http://www.abandonedfl.com/aerojet-dade/
[+] [-] codewritinfool|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] codewritinfool|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] userbinator|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dwighttk|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] guhcampos|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dorgo|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rootbear|8 years ago|reply
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/voyager-1-fires-up-thruster...
[+] [-] sctb|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] colanderman|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dirkk0|8 years ago|reply