Voyager 1 & 2

[brellis]

hi Andrew<br /><br />thanks for sharing your personal recount of the "Grand Tour".<br /><br />Apollo events are significant from my childhood, but Voyager events stand out during my years of descent <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> into adulthood.<br /><br />I remember when Bush Sr. made some remarks as V2 encountered Neptune, thinking about how Jimmy Carter Prez when it launched, the Cold War ended, etc. <br />So much human history has unfolded while these two spacecraft have journeyed out of the solar system.<br />They're still traveling 1 million miles a day!<br /><br />Calli - sorry about your PC probs, but I can proudly say I "scooped" the story, hehe <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Read this alsn the 30th anniversary of Voyager 1's launch, the New Horizons mission salutes its predecessor on the path toward the solar system's planetary frontier - and beyond. http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.nl.html?pid=23461<br /><br />Destined for Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, New Horizons is the first mission to an unexplored planet since Voyager 1 roared into space on Sept. 5, 1977. Voyager 2 launched 16 days earlier; together the Voyagers continue toward the edge of the solar system, returning information from distances more than three times farther away <br />

 

[3488]

Very true alokmohan.<br /><br />Alan Stern owes a great deal to Voyager, with the experience gained in high speed,<br />high precision interplanetary travel in the outer solar system.<br /><br />A great shame really that New Horizons was not called Voyager 3 & <br />New Horizons 2 (which was cancelled), to be called Voyager 4.<br /><br />It was one of my suggestions during the campaign to get New Horizons approved. <br /><br />New Horizons, is really continuing what the Voyagers so spectacularly started, a highly<br />detailed recon, of the outermost parts of the solar system.<br /><br />The Voyager title deserved to be carried on IMO.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[h2ouniverse]

The golden generation had few bodies to explore, and made 4 S/C (Pioneers 10, 11, and the Voyagers).<br />We have now tens of bodies />500km to explore , and other tens to be announced soon. And just one probe (NH) for max 3 large ones (Pluto, Charon, plus potential extra target).<br /><br />Sigh.<br /><br />We need a cheap, recurring concept of probe+payload. Something the agencies have trouble imagining and maintaining.<br /><br />Regards.

 

[cbased]

Voyager 2 - still goes strong!<br /><br />http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071127171052.htm<br /><br />The spacecraft is set to cross the termination shock in late 2007-early 2008.

 

[alokmohan]

I feel lucky that I was alive during this historic mission.

 

[3488]

Thanks Cbased,<br /><br />An important part of Voyaer 2's extended mission is about to be accomplished.<br /><br />A shame the camera cannot be activated, to look back & take a portrait of the Solar System,<br />as Voyager 1 did on St Valentine's Day, back in February 1990 (lack of RTG<br />output & the camera software deleted).<br /><br />Of course nearly 18 years on, the scale will be different, & of course Voyager 2 is looking <br />back onto the Sun from the direction of the small<br />faint southern constellation of <br />Telescopium, so the viewing angle is very different from Voyager 1 (which looks back <br />from northern Ophiuchus).<br /><br />Hi alokmohan,<br /><br />Yes I too grew up with Voyager. Still often look at & use Voyager imagery, particularly the Uranus<br />& Neptune systems & Jupiter's Io. <br /><br />Als oworth noting, Voyager 1 obtained high resolution views of the north polar region <br />of the Saturn moons Dione & Rhea (something Cassini cannot do as yet) <br />& Voyager 2, the north polar regions of Tethys, Dione & Iapetus (also <br />something Cassini cannot do as yet). So much data & imagery, from the Voyagers is<br />still yet to be surpassed & probably will not be for many decades yet.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[anthmartian]

This is slightly off topic i know, but my thoughts have been inspired by the Voyagers longevity and their accomplishments.<br /><br />Would there be anyway to send probes out into the solar system which could combine power sources, to carry out an ongoing mission, where they could sling shot around solar system bodies and keep re visiting them again and again? We have seen many times how software uploads have breathed new life in to many missions. That could be an ongoing process too.<br /><br />I hate to borrow from sci fi, but Kim Stanley Robinson had such a concept for passenger carrying space craft in his Red Mars trilogy.<br /><br />It would remove a costly and risky part of missions, ie many launches. It would save a lot of money too. It could even be inter space agency funded. Scientists could even book time for an "encounter"<br /><br />If we could make probes which are so successful and can live for so long using 1960's technology basically, then imagine what "Voyager 3" could accomplish!? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em>"Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star, or bounce too close to a supernova and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?"</em></font></p><p><font color="#33cccc"><strong>Han Solo - 1977 - A long time ago in a galaxy far far away....</strong></font></p><p><br /><br />Click Here And jump over to my site.<br /></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Hate to be the voice or pragmatism here, but....<br /><br />Could it be done?<br />Probabably not. The Voyager missions (Particularly the 4 planet tour of V2) were unique in that the alignment of the outer planets made it possible. That won't occur again for thousands of years.<br />And slingshotting around (using the amount of fuel you could carry on board) takes so long and would require so much fuel, it isn't gonna happen.<br /><br />On an even more pragmatic level, the $$$$ required for such a mission would suck up every penny available for all the other missions.<br />It would have to weigh more than any other probe (for fuel), and require a launcher larger than any yet made. Or take several centuries to make return visits using purely gravitational means.<br /><br />Sadly, the supply of money is not unlimited, in fact it's darn limited.<br />So it's a matter of where such a mission would fit in a priority list; in reality it would be so low, and require technology that doesn't currently exist (in an affordable form) so it's not even as high as unlikely.<br /><br />Sorry to be a wet blanket, it is nice to dream.<br /><br />A Voyager 3 could maybe accomplish a lot, and it would have to, since it would be the only mission for a century <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

In order to have vaguely reasonable transit times to the outer planets you have to gain a lot of velocity at Jupiter, and I don't think it would be possible to dump enough of this velocity at the outer gas giants to fall back towards the sun. So it would have to be a one-way trip.<br /><br />If you are willing to accept very long transfers between planets maybe something is possible but you would definitely get more observation value per dollar by sending a separate orbiter to each planet.

 

[anthmartian]

Thanks guys. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />it was just a thought. I was hoping some people here who are more informed than i could settle that. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em>"Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star, or bounce too close to a supernova and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?"</em></font></p><p><font color="#33cccc"><strong>Han Solo - 1977 - A long time ago in a galaxy far far away....</strong></font></p><p><br /><br />Click Here And jump over to my site.<br /></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Jut for fun, here's that latest staus report:<br /><br />Voyager Mission Operations Status Report # 2007-10-26, Week Ending October 26, 2007<br /><br /> <br /><br />Command Transmission & Verification Operations<br /><br /> <br /><br />Voyager 1 command operations consisted of the uplink of a command loss timer reset on 04/18 [DOY 108/2230z]. The spacecraft received the command.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Voyager 2 command operations consisted of the uplink of seven bracketed command loss timer resets sent on five-minute centers using 1.0 Hz steps on 10/20 [DOY 293/0022z]. The spacecraft received two of the seven commands sent.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Sequence Generation Operations<br /><br /> <br /><br />Start sequence development of abbreviated B138 mini-sequence due to the lack of DSN allocations.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Data Return Operations<br /><br /> <br /><br />Voyager 1 Data Processing and Operations:<br /><br /> <br /><br />There were 63.5 hours of DSN scheduled support for Voyager 1 of which 11.8 hours were large aperture coverage. There were no real-time or schedule support changes made or significant outages during the period.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />Science instrument performance was nominal for all activities during this period. One frame of GS-4 data was recorded this week. A second frame of GS-4 data was recorded on October 20. 98.2% of twenty-six frames of GS-4 data was recovered from a playback on October 24. The EDR backlog is 1 days.<br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br />Voyager 2 Data Processing and Operations:<br /><br /> <br /><br />There were 40.4 hours of DSN scheduled support for Voyager 2 of which 7.3 hours were large aperture coverage. There was one schedule support change made on 10/24 [DOY 297] when 4.0 hours of DSS-34 support was replaced by 7.5 hours of DSS-43 coverage released by MSGR and SIRTIF to support a MAGROL maneuver. The total actual support was 43.9 hours of which 14.8 hours were large aperture coverage. There were no significant outages during the <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[comga]

If henryhalam is right that <br />"Pu238 as used in the Voyager RTGs has a half life of 88 years"<br />then the power margins stated for October 26, 2007 will go negative in about 15 years for both spacecraft. However, I don't know if the margin is for minimum operations, or if turning off more hardware can increase it and extend the mission.

 

[cbased]

Does anyone know what is considered to be the "border" of our solar system and when will Voyagers cross this border? <br /><br />Found this:<br />http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/voyager_heliosphere.html<br /><br /><i>The heliopause is the last boundary of that region where interstellar space, or matter from other stars, takes over as the ruler of the roost. Voyager isn't expected to reach the area for another 20 years. Entering the fluid region known as the heliosheath, past the theoretical boundary of the 'termination shock,' however, marks the first step toward that ultimate goal. The heliosheath represents a mixing bowl-region in which smaller amounts of solar wind mix with gas from outside our solar system.</i><br /><br />so, another 20 years... hmmm. I really do hope that we will still have enough power left to communicate with both Voyagers...<br /><br />

 

[qso1]

And in addition to that, its very likely the border will be difficult to establish as a sharp boundry. The Voyagers might actually spend weeks or even months going through what might be a tenuous border region. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[3488]

I agree qso1. <br /><br />I too do not think it will be an abrupt change, but a region where<br />the Sun's influence diminishes at a quicker rate than has been observed thus far, <br />but still not, one day inside the Heliosheath, than the next outside.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[cbased]

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Voyager_2_Proves_Solar_System_Is_Squashed_999.html<br /><br />"Voyager 2 Proves Solar System Is Squashed"

 

[3488]

Thank you very much Cbased for that fascinating article.<br /><br />The fact that Voyager 2 is 1.6 Billion KM closer to the Sun, yet appears to be observing<br />effects on the Heliosheath to a much<br />greater degree than Voyager 1, does support the idea of a raindrop shaped Heliosphere<br />as predicted some time ago.<br /><br />Voyager 1 is heading out of the Solar System in northern Ophiuchus, <br />Voyager 2 heading out towards Telescopium.<br /><br />With two very different vantage points being observed simultaneously, I wonder if enough<br />information can be obtained to draw a crude shape of the Heliosheath over all??<br /><br />New Horizons should still be operational to make follow on studies after the Pluto / KBO mission<br />primary mission.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[itsfullofstars]

A teardrop shape would suggest a 'wind' blowing from one direction? If so the spacecraft travelling out toward the tail end of the teardrop would see fluctuations as it travelled (a fluttering tail) and the craft heading towards the wind would see a more abrupt change as it hit the edge?<br /><br />Would be nice to see which way the wind came from (if there is a such a thing), the centre of our galaxy maybe?<br /><br />itsfullofstars<br />

 

[MeteorWayne]

AFAIK, the wind would be created by our orbital motion around the galaxy, so the "wind" would be from the direction we are heading. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[franontanaya]

I've been playing around the COHO website and managed to get these graphs from the plasma instrument data, starting the first of this year: link to image.<br /><br />This is where I got it from:<br />http://cohoweb.gsfc.nasa.gov/form/voyager2.html<br /><br />The 1st chart is distance from the Sun, the 2nd one plasma speed (protons), and the 3rd plasma temperature. I hope I got it right.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[brellis]

Voyager 2 discovers our Solar System is bent <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[jsmoody]

I heard that we received a signal the other day from an alien race that had found the Voyager 2 spacecraft and interepreted the sounds and music included on the probe. Their message was: "Send more Chuck Berry!". <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> No amount of belief makes something a fact" - James Randi </div>

 

[franontanaya]

<p>Hi.</p><p>The solar wind speed plots for Voyager 2 have peaked this month:</p><p>http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena/org/s/space/www/voyager/voyager_data/voyager_data.html</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp; </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[aldenthechronicler]

Voyagers 1 &amp; 2

Hello I am Alden,

I'm new to this Forum so a big hello to all.

Thought I'd take a moment to mention my excitement concerning the recent information sent back by the Voyager Satelites 1 & 2 (not Startrek!) , which at the moment are on the very edge of our solar system studying and sending back info on the barrier between interstellar space and our star system.

What I find particularly interesting is how solar radiation caused by our sun slows just before it meets the interstellar radiation, causing a bubble effect or shield.

Also intriguing is the fact that the Voyagers are the most furthest away man made objects ever sent into space, and they are on the verge of reaching interstellar space.

Any opinions?