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Voyager 1 is a light-day away by November 2026

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Re: Voyager 1 is a light-day away by November 2026

#91

Post by thw_9a83c »

technothrasher wrote: post #30

Voyager 1 passed by Saturn in 1980 on my ninth birthday, and my dad had set up TV sets in the house with video he was getting off a satellite feed for my birthday party with a bunch of my friends. We were all very confused as to why he did it, as it wasn't very kid's party like. Only many years later did I get how cool it actually was, and how I will always remember that Voyager event. So... a much belated thanks, da…

Great story! At first, I got the impression that your dad was receiving a video stream directly from Voyager's signal. Of course, that would be technically impossible, since Voyager 1 requires approx. 70-meter radio telescopes and specialized equipment to obtain data.

So, what was the "satellite feed" mentioned in the story? Was it a regular TV broadcast, or something more internal distributed by NASA?

Re: Voyager 1 is a light-day away by November 2026

#92

Post by MRtecno98 »

ojo-rojo wrote: post #66
nake89 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is one answer. Another possibility (the one I prefer, since this is mere speculation anyway) is that we are early.

Early as in we may have developed before any other civilizations? That's interesting. We're speculating of course, but what would explain us being the first after so much time – 13.8 billion years?

Earth (and the solar system) is 4.3B years old, a bit more than a third of that, so it's not really that much time in comparison no?

Re: Voyager 1 is a light-day away by November 2026

#94

Post by technothrasher »

thw_9a83c wrote: post #91
technothrasher wrote: post #30

Voyager 1 passed by Saturn in 1980 on my ninth birthday, and my dad had set up TV sets in the house with video he was getting off a satellite feed for my birthday party with a bunch of my friends. We were all very confused as to why he did it, as it wasn't very kid's party like. Only many years later did I get how cool it actually was, and how I will always remember that Voyager event. So... a much belated thanks, da…

Great story! At first, I got the impression that your dad was receiving a video stream directly from Voyager's signal. Of course, that would be technically impossible, since Voyager 1 requires approx. 70-meter radio telescopes and specialized equipment to obtain data. So, what was the "satellite feed" mentioned in the story? Was it a regular TV broadcast, or something more internal distributed by NASA?

I was too young to know what it was. He had some big dish antennas that he was always futzing with, and I'm sure he was using one of those, but I presume it was some kind of relay signal. Unfortunately I'm not a radio guy.

Re: Voyager 1 is a light-day away by November 2026

#95

Post by C6JEsQeQa5fCjE »

chistev wrote: post #87
ojo-rojo wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Early as in we may have developed before any other civilizations? That's interesting. We're speculating of course, but what would explain us being the first after so much time – 13.8 billion years?

Maybe we aren't the first living things to exist in the universe, but the first intelligent ones, and intelligent here meaning creatures with ability to ask these questions and make space probes to explore the universe. Maybe intelligence isn't always a product of evolution. Even here on Earth, in the, what, 4 billion years history of the planet, humans are the only evolved creatures with intelligence as defined here…

> Even here on Earth, in the, what, 4 billion years history of the planet, humans are the only evolved creatures with intelligence as defined here. Maybe intelligence doesn't always occur.

It is unlikely that other beings becoming intelligent enough to rival us and deny us the supremacy over the planet would ever be allowed. Homo sapiens are believed to have "contributed to" the extinction of several other modern-human-like species (one of them being the Neanderthals). How many other times before could something similar have happened, perhaps far earlier in the evolutionary timeline?

The only way we would allow sufficiently highly intelligent life to develop and flourish is if it is completely subservient to us.

Re: Voyager 1 is a light-day away by November 2026

#96

Post by funflame »

ojo-rojo wrote: post #66
nake89 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is one answer. Another possibility (the one I prefer, since this is mere speculation anyway) is that we are early.

Early as in we may have developed before any other civilizations? That's interesting. We're speculating of course, but what would explain us being the first after so much time – 13.8 billion years?

If you assume the heat death as the end point, we're ridiculously early in the universe's lifespan.

Re: Voyager 1 is a light-day away by November 2026

#97

Post by nosrepa »

FridayoLeary wrote: post #4

It's expected never to encounter any other object in all eternity. Unless of course someone deliberately aims for it. I heard once it will eventually lose it's form entirely and just drift through space as a melted lump of metal. For some reason that reminds me of Red Dwarf. We are going to lose it before long i wonder if it will be possible to find it on a future date in theory.

It'll come back on its own and want to talk to some whales.

Re: Voyager 1 is a light-day away by November 2026

#98

Post by blue_pants »

lm28469 wrote: post #71
rhubarbtree wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A thousand years ago it was unthinkable we could circumnavigate the globe. We don’t understand quantum mechanics and we don’t understand gravity. There’s no reason to assume that we won’t find ways to travel the universe, e.g. by manipulating space time. We just don’t know what we don’t know. If you had to bet based on past achievements, humanity will find a way. Our job is to push the limits as much as we can and bu…

> Our job is to push the limits as much as we can What if that's exactly what will cause our extinction, you don't know what you don't know am I right ?

But if we don't advance our technology enough to escape this planet, then we'll go extinct for sure, no ifs

Re: Voyager 1 is a light-day away by November 2026

#99

Post by tekla »

ojo-rojo wrote: post #66
nake89 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is one answer. Another possibility (the one I prefer, since this is mere speculation anyway) is that we are early.

Early as in we may have developed before any other civilizations? That's interesting. We're speculating of course, but what would explain us being the first after so much time – 13.8 billion years?

The more entertaining answer from a scifi book. Aliens that developed earlier decided to become isolationist and wanted to stop young civilizations from blasting radio waves at them, so once a civilization became semi-industrialized, they chucked a planet killing rock at them.

Re: Voyager 1 is a light-day away by November 2026

#100

Post by xnx »

freakynit wrote: post #34

Humanity’s greatest journey so far has only reached the closest world to us: the Moon ... in a universe that stretches endlessly in every direction and is seemingly infinite. It's kind of wild to think about: we might end up collapsing our own civilization before we ever make it beyond our solar system. At this point, I suspect the next real explorers won't be us, but probes carrying intelligent machines..our robotic…

> Humanity’s greatest journey so far has only reached the closest world to us: the Moon ... in a universe that stretches endlessly in every direction and is seemingly infinite.

I've never felt this impulse. To me it's like saying the Earth is 8,000 miles thick but we all chose to live within just a few feet of the surface.

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