However, the two probes are now entering the “final phase” of their mission, and NASA is about to begin shutting down some of the instruments on board to extend their lifespans as long as possible.
Voyager 1 is currently 14.5 billion miles (23.3 billion kilometers) from Earth, and it takes 20 hours and 33 minutes to travel at the speed of light. And Voyager 2 (Voyager 2) is 12 billion miles (about 19.3 billion kilometers) from Earth, and it takes 18 hours to travel at the speed of light. That means it takes two days for engineers to send a message to the probe and get a response.
In 1977, two Voyagers were launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with Voyager 2 launching a month before Voyager 1. They have a design life of five years and are primarily used to study Jupiter and Saturn. However, they have been flying for 44 years now, far exceeding expectations. But NASA now plans to begin shutting down some systems on both probes, hoping the remaining power will keep them flying until around 2030.
NASA physicist Ralph McNutt said of shutting down some of the Voyager systems: “They’ve been in continuous operation for over 44 years, which is 10 times the warranty period.”
The two detectors are powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which are powered by heat from the decay of plutonium spheres. However, the output power of these RTGs is declining at a rate of about 4 watts per year. This means that the instruments on both Voyagers need to be gradually shut down to save energy.
Voyager 1 now has only 4 instruments available, while Voyager 2 has 5 more. Some experts estimate that the two probes could end their missions as early as 2025, as the plutonium fuel decays and reaches levels that make it difficult to keep the spacecraft going.
Others, however, seemed more optimistic, arguing that the two Voyagers could fly for another decade. Before, the performance of the two Voyagers did surprise NASA engineers. Two years ago, scientists expected to start shutting down instruments on the probe, but they haven’t shut down any systems since 2008.
Planetary scientist Linda Spilker, who began working on the mission before Voyager’s launch, said: “If all goes well, maybe we can extend the mission into the 2030s. It depends on the energy supply, it It’s the limit.”
Engineers launched these probes nearly half a century ago, taking advantage of a rare 176-year streak of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. This allows them to launch two Voyagers into orbit and use each planet’s gravitational assist to send them to the orbit of the next planet.
The two Voyagers explored all the giant planets in the outer solar system, including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and 48 other moons, and helped to understand the unique rings and magnetic field systems these planets possess.
Voyager provided humans with a close-up look at Jupiter and Saturn’s moons, including the active volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io, and conducted preliminary studies of the complex structure of Saturn’s rings. Voyager 2 remains the only man-made spacecraft ever built to visit Uranus and Neptune.
On the 13th day of the mission, after reaching a distance of 7.25 million miles (1,167 kilometers) from Earth, Voyager 1 turned its camera to Earth to capture the first-ever single-frame photo of the Earth-Moon system . Just as it passed Uranus on February 14, 1990, it also captured Earth’s shadow, albeit a tiny spot.
Four years later, astronomer Carl Sagan described the meaning of the image to viewers at Cornell University, naming it the “Pale Blue Dot.” In his speech, he said: “Look at that point again, it’s here. This is home, this is us. Everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you’ve heard of, Everyone who has ever lived has spent their entire lives on it.”
The two Voyagers, now exploring places no man-made objects have been, have emerged from a hot plasma bubble known as the heliopause, which is seen as the origin of the edge of the solar system.
In August 2012, Voyager 1 first entered interstellar space, the region between stars filled with material ejected when nearby stars died millions of years ago. Voyager 2 entered interstellar space on November 5, 2018. However, the two probes are not currently believed to exist outside the solar system.
Scientists believe that the final boundary of the solar system is the Oort Cloud, which contains a large number of celestial bodies still affected by the sun’s gravity. NASA says it will take Voyager 2 about 300 years to reach the inner edge of the Oort Cloud, and it could take 30,000 years to fly over the Oort Cloud.
Both probes will greet them if they encounter any form of life. This message was conveyed through phonograph records. The record is a 12-inch gold-plated copper disc containing sounds and images used to depict the diversity of life and culture on Earth.
The Voyager probes are the third and fourth man-made spacecraft to fly over all the planets in the solar system. Pioneers 10 and Pioneers 11 escaped the Sun’s gravity before Voyager, but on February 17, 1998, Voyager 1 surpassed Pioneers 10 to become space The farthest man-made object in the world.
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