
Voyager 1 Has Outdistanced the Solar Wind - iuguy
http://www.universetoday.com/81662/voyager-1-has-outdistanced-the-solar-wind/
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rickr
Since it's such a large number and difficult to comprehend Voyager 1 is about
116 AU away. 1 AU is the distance from earth to the sun (150,000,000 km).
Earths circumference is 40,000 km. Space is big.

Also, a neat summary of the computers on Voyager can be found here:
<http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/faq.html>

I'm still trying to track down the article on the comm used.

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wil2k
Great websites to browse around.

I can only heavily recommend the "did you know" [
<http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/didyouknow.html> ] and "fast facts" [
<http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/fastfacts.html> ] pages.

It makes one truly appreciate and wonder about the amazing accomplishments of
this machine (and it's sister, Voyager 2) and the men and women who made this
'grand tour' mission possible.

Sometimes I've wished I was born a few decades earlier so I could have been a
part of the team that really pushed mankind's space boundaries and knowledge.

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Swizec
Initial reaction: Now that's reliable hardware! Somebody forgot about the
warranty expiring ...

More serious thoughts: This is really amazing, I would never have imagined it
would even be possible to keep contact with a probe for this long.

Makes you wonder, way back then we could launch a probe that runs for several
decades and reaches the absolute edge of the solar system ... nowadays we can
... make missions into space on several decades old hardware ...

Something isn't right here guys, I thought rocket science was supposed to be
bleeding edge?

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ugh
Well, there is New Horizons on its way to Pluto and the Kuiper belt, Juno will
launch in 2011 to Jupiter. Cassini will have explored Saturn for 13 years at
the end of its mission in 2017. (Cassini is in many ways more impressive than
the Voyager spacecrafts.)

Then there are of course Spirit and Opportunity on Mars and their successor,
Curiosity, is scheduled to land in 2012.

It sucks a bit that not much else is planned at the moment, though. (Probably
no Mars Sample Return before 2020, no missions to Europa, …)

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robryan
It's kind of surprising there is no mission to Europa in any form of advanced
planning, the idea certainly seems to have been around for a long time.

You would imagine to that there would be much to learn from Cassini like
missions to Uranus and Neptune.

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hugh3
There have been a couple of Europa missions which got cancelled in the
planning stages, which is why we don't have one in the works right now. Europa
missions have a habit of getting extremely elaborate and expensive and then
getting cancelled.

We'll get there eventually. In the meantime, the big (and very expensive)
mission in the works which the grandparent didn't mention is the Titan Saturn
System Mission:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_Saturn_System_Mission>

which is currently planned to have a Titan orbiter, a Titan lake lander, and a
Titan _hot air balloon_. If this one launches in its planned form it's going
to be impressive. Mind you, it's not due to launch 'til 2020 and it's got a
nine-year flight to Saturn, so don't hold your breath either way.

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patrickgzill
This is especially cool for me, in that I remember the day in grade school I
told the other kids about how Voyager 1 was passing Saturn and was the
farthest-away man made object; now, some 30 years later, it is still making
news and performing a useful scientific function.

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ars
It's awesome that they have a second probe to repeat and confirm the data from
the first one.

The Voyagers just leave me astonished - something that far and we are still
communicating with it. I hope we are able to collect them one day.

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mironathetin
Yes, if the Klingons don't destroy them... ;o). Just kidding. I still remember
the launch. A remarkable instrument indeed. Like Pioneer. Two of the most
impressive space missions.

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kingsidharth
Just wondering about two things:

[1] If speed of the space-craft(craft) and solar-wind (wind) become equal that
doesn't mean winds have stopped? That means they are same or slower than the
craft. Right?

[2] The time that signal from craft takes to reach us, is that accounted for
in their estimation of 'how much time in...' equation?

Dummy questions but just very curious.

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lutorm
[1] True. But the default speed of the charged particles are a lot faster than
a spacecraft, so effectively they've stopped.

[2] The light travel time is on the order of hours, not significant on these
scales.

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dstein
But has it forgotten who its creator is yet?

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SwaroopH
Almost about to jump into hyperspace!

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J3L2404
Graphic of locations of Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft:

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/Outersolarsyst...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/Outersolarsystem-
probes-4407.jpg)

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wlievens
From 2007. Would love to see something updated!

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J3L2404
Add four pixels to each line. ;)

