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Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space

nytimes.com

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Re: Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space

#61

Post by peteradio »

Aperocky wrote: post #57
outworlder wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a fairly common trope in SciFi settings which have Generation Ships. Some time after the ship gets launched (centuries, even), FTL gets developed. Then they either arrive and find a civilization at their destination, or they are considered to be off-limits and not to be messed with, depending on the setting. That assumes such improvements are even possible. At least for non-magical propulsion, we don't really…

I personally believe that it is easier to put human/whatever consciousness in a computer than it is to achieve FTL. Not that the former is easy, but the latter is basically impossible. After the former is achieved, we can basically coast on sleep for eternities.

What would that point of that be?

Re: Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space

#62

Post by journalctl »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #2

I'm amazed and still can't get my head around how today we can receive images and valuable data from a device which is currently lightdays away from us and was built with 60's technology & know-how and is operating well beyond it's expected lifetime. I raise my glass to the engineers who worked on this. Makes my daily programming tasks feel stupid in comparison. Edit: corrected, thanks for the numbers

My favorite part is how everyone is jumping down your throat over a simple mistake in what was meant to be an expression of awe and admiration.

Re: Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space

#63

Post by james_s_tayler »

mlthoughts2018 wrote: post #27
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #2

I'm amazed and still can't get my head around how today we can receive images and valuable data from a device which is currently lightdays away from us and was built with 60's technology & know-how and is operating well beyond it's expected lifetime. I raise my glass to the engineers who worked on this. Makes my daily programming tasks feel stupid in comparison. Edit: corrected, thanks for the numbers

Yeah but did they use Agile methods and have good team velocity as they burned down the backlog? If not, how can we really be sure the project was a success?

They had escape velocity.

Re: Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space

#64

Post by toyg »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #47

I'm disappointed that it even as it become very obvious we were going to continue gathering useful information from Voyager 1/2 and yet no follow on missions have been launched. I suppose the idea is that there is more to be gained via specialized missions inside the solar system, compared with new long running extreme range probes, but you would think there might be some value in starting to send a chain of probes o…

The cynic in me thinks that there is little marketing value in throwing probes into the void, whereas landing and taking pictures of “the new frontier” can be sold to the (taxpaying) public more easily.

Re: Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space

#65

Post by iamcreasy »

outworlder wrote: post #46
wyldfire wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are they powered via PV? IIRC one of them (satellite/probes) had some nuclear fuel.

> Are they powered via PV Consider that light emitted from the Sun will decay with the square of the distance – as it is irradiated in all directions. To Voyager, the Sun looks like an ordinary star – although one much brighter than the others. Not much energy can be harvested there. Until recently, photovoltaics were useless as far away as Jupiter. Given the tech advancements, we can now use them there (and have). F…

> To Voyager, the Sun looks like an ordinary star – although one much brighter than the others. Not much energy can be harvested there.

This blew my mind. Do you have a reference that talks more on this topic?

Re: Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space

#66

Post by CDSlice »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #47

I'm disappointed that it even as it become very obvious we were going to continue gathering useful information from Voyager 1/2 and yet no follow on missions have been launched. I suppose the idea is that there is more to be gained via specialized missions inside the solar system, compared with new long running extreme range probes, but you would think there might be some value in starting to send a chain of probes o…

The problem is we can't launch another Voyager mission. The Voyagers took advantage of the planets being aligned in just the right way to allow them slingshot through the outer solar system. This won't happen again for another 100 years or so.

Now we could design probes that are just for going into interstellar space but it would be a hard sell when you are competing against missions like sending a drone to Titan. Even the New Horizons mission to Pluto barely made it through NASA's project selection process and IMO expanding our knowledge of Pluto is more valuable (and sellable to the public) than a mission to literally nothing.

Re: Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space

#67

Post by stevenwoo »

ngcc_hk wrote: post #16
daveslash wrote: post #11

Not a comment of the article itself, but for anyone interested in both Voyagers, PBS recently did a great documentary called "The Farthest" . I highly recommend it. http://www.pbs.org/the-farthest/home/

Thanks but only for American

BBC made a series called The Planets (2019) that talks about almost all space probes from the last 30 years and the data retrieved so far, you might have access to that but not sure of your country.

Re: Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space

#68

Post by jfrankamp »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #29
flurdy wrote: post #12

I am always baffled by the conundrum of the futility of launching a spacecraft to go far away by our own ability to invent faster engines. Say it takes 300 years to get to Alpha Centauri. If you launch it you have 150 years to invent a spacecraft that goes twice the speed of the first one. Very likely. If you launch that one it will overtake the other one. Now you have 75 years to find an even faster engine. Launch i…

This is why I didn't invest in solar yet. Even with subsidies, it looked to me like they would take far more than double the time to pay for themselves than it would for the price to cut itself in half based on current trends. Might as well wait a few years.

I think it might be time to look again? Cost of panels is extraordinarily low and cost of installation (e.g humans) is not on a similar curve. I looked at price/watt and went ahead and installed. The payoff period is ~11 years, 1 1/2 years in. Warranted to 20. You could take panel price to zero and it wouldn't have changed the math much.

Re: Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space

#69

Post by adventured »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #47

I'm disappointed that it even as it become very obvious we were going to continue gathering useful information from Voyager 1/2 and yet no follow on missions have been launched. I suppose the idea is that there is more to be gained via specialized missions inside the solar system, compared with new long running extreme range probes, but you would think there might be some value in starting to send a chain of probes o…

New Horizons can and may do exactly that.

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/2019-Onward.php

"Future New Horizons extended missions, if funded by NASA, could explore even farther out. The spacecraft is on an escape trajectory from the Sun, traveling about three astronomical units per year. Moreover, New Horizons and its payload sensors are healthy and operating perfectly. The spacecraft has enough power and fuel to operate into the mid-2030s or longer, perhaps enough to reach the boundary of interstellar space."

Re: Voyager 2’s Discoveries from Interstellar Space

#70

Post by wyldfire »

iamcreasy wrote: post #65
outworlder wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Are they powered via PV Consider that light emitted from the Sun will decay with the square of the distance – as it is irradiated in all directions. To Voyager, the Sun looks like an ordinary star – although one much brighter than the others. Not much energy can be harvested there. Until recently, photovoltaics were useless as far away as Jupiter. Given the tech advancements, we can now use them there (and have). F…

> To Voyager, the Sun looks like an ordinary star – although one much brighter than the others. Not much energy can be harvested there. This blew my mind. Do you have a reference that talks more on this topic?

If you're talking about its apparent size in the sky -- just a guess but I think this one is relevant: [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_diameter

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