Voyager approaching edge of our Solar System. Wow.

mulpsmebeauty said:
I was surprised to read that its radio signals only take 16 hours to get back to earth; I wasn't aware they travelled anything like this fast. I'd thought we'd have been getting data that was months old.
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From what I understand it, radio travels at the speed of light. So the probe is currently about 16 light hours away from earth!
 
At least it won't speed slow down once it's fuel has run out (unless it hits something), so they will still be able to determine it's location.
 
Spunkey said:
That's amazing :eek:

Just read on one of OPs links that the Plutonium fuel both Voyagers are using is due to diminish to a level where it will not power any systems beyond 2025 :(
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Fair enough to be honest, that's nearly 50 years. Shame though, we could build a far better system now but clearly it's not worth the money or effort for those who have the wealth to be interested :mad:

Still, amazing news.
 
Nanoman said:
At least it won't speed slow down once it's fuel has run out (unless it hits something), so they will still be able to determine it's location.
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It will slow down, slowly, when it hits micro-particles of dust. Think of it like air resistance that'll slow it down a bit.
 
KatanaDV20 said:
Kinda makes you realize what can happen if we put minds to it...and how petty and stupid our bickering is on this little blue planet.
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Quoted for truth. The sooner we look to the stars the better IMHO.

Doubt I will see a true United and Unified Earth in my time unless aliens invade which bands us together. Que UFO Enemy Unknown :D

Everytime I read something on space travel or exploration it cheers me up.
 
Glad you guys liked readin about that...I wasnt sure what kinda response it would get but nice to see others who find this sort of thing fascinating :)

If I was good at math & physics Id totally have worked at JPL!

Everytime I read something on space travel or exploration it cheers me up
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Yea me too, couldnt agree more! What a bummer we wont be around when they build the first interplanetary ships and one day even starships. But. - at least we were around for the birth of it all. Space shuttle, ISS...and now even private sub-orbital jaunts which are on the way.
 
It sort of makes all the messing about we do in space now, mostly in low earth orbit seem a bit trivial, they knew how to make spacecraft last back then.
 
I like to think that maybe in 100 years we'll send out a faster probe to go and catch up with it as a kind of cultural thing - maybe an artist will fund it and then project some pictures of voyager onto a wall somewhere. I wonder how long it will be before it is no longer the furthest man made object... will we ever overtake it?
 
Ricochet J said:
If space is so dense then what are the chances of it colliding with an astroid?
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Almost none. Space is damn near empty. Even an asteroid belt is almost empty. The extremely dense asteroid fields you see on sci-fi are just made up to look good and fit the plot. You could pick a course at random straight through the asteroid belt and be pretty sure of not hitting anything. In any case, it's well past the asteroid belt. It's possible that it'll hit something, but it's extremely unlikely. Maybe in the Oort cloud, but it won't reach there for millenia.
 
KatanaDV20 said:
We'll all be long gone when it passes by a nearby star called AC+79 3888, a star in the constellation of Camelopardalis. This will be in about 40,000 years from now.
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40,000 years, you say? I have a feeling the planets of AC+79 3888 might just have genestealers and tyranids living on them...
 
GreatAuk said:
I like to think that maybe in 100 years we'll send out a faster probe to go and catch up with it as a kind of cultural thing ?
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i doubt it because we'll probably not be able to track it so it will soon be lost once it's out of power.
 
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