An imaginary map depicting the planned passage trajectory of NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft (created around 1977).
Space Frontiers/Archive Photos/Getty Images
- NASA is phasing out some of the instruments onboard Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft to save reduced power.
- Forty-five years have passed since the launch of the two spacecraft, and the output of the power supply is gradually decreasing. The shutdown of the observation equipment this time is one of the measures to continue the operation until 2030.
- Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 and 2 are farther from the Earth than any other human-made object.
The spectacular interstellar exploration journey accomplished by NASA’s Voyager spacecraft is nearing its end. According to an article in the scientific journal Scientific American, NASA is gradually powering down some of the observation equipment on board the spacecraft.
Both Voyager 1 and 2 have been breaking through the limits of space exploration since they were launched in 1977, 45 years ago. Today, it is the farthest man-made object from Earth, and this record is unlikely to be broken for decades to come.
Scientific American explains that the decision is to prioritize power consumption to extend the life of the two instruments by a few more years and keep them alive until around 2030.
Ralph McNutt, a physicist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, told the magazine, “We’ve been using that crappy spacecraft for ten times as long as planned.” Said. This is based on the fact that Voyager’s mission was originally planned to be completed in four years.
The two spacecraft are observing using a nuclear battery that uses plutonium, a radioactive substance, as a power source. This power source has kept the small computers on board running for decades.
The power output that powers the system continues to decline by about 4 watts per year, so it was necessary to save on power consumption, Scientific American reports.
“If everything goes really well, we could extend the two missions to 2030. It depends on the power. That’s the limit,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said. Linda Spilker, a planetary scientist at NASA, told the magazine.
A photograph of Saturn’s ring (colored composite image) taken by Voyager 2 on August 23, 1981.
NASA
The spacecraft’s original goal was to carry out a flyby on Jupiter and Saturn, but this mission was accomplished years after the launch (launch 1977, Jupiter passage 1979, Saturn passage 1980-81). Year). After that, the two aircraft continued to sail, sending images of the solar system in which we live, and sending observational data from far away space.
Voyager 1 took a famous photo in February 1990 known as “Pale Blue Dot”. This is a picture of the Earth (composite image) taken from a distance of 6 billion kilometers from the Sun, and it came to be called by this name because it looks like a small pale dot.
“Pale Blue Dot” is a picture of the Earth taken on February 14, 1990 by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft from a distance of 6 billion kilometers (this photo was republished in 2020). thing).
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The video below shows a number of even more amazing images taken by Voyager.
Voyager 1 surpassed the record of Pioneer 10 (the world’s first Jupiter probe in a hyperbolic orbit that escaped the solar system after approaching Jupiter in 1973) as a man-made object in January 1998. Has reached the farthest. The distance from the earth at this time was about 10.4 billion kilometers.
And according to NASA’s live tracker, which shows the current location of the spacecraft, Voyager 1 is about 23.3 billion kilometers and Voyager 2 is about 19.4 billion kilometers, each sailing far from Earth.
This position is generally considered to be a space beyond the boundaries of the solar system in which we live. Voyager 1 reached the “interstellar space” in 2012 and Voyager 2 in 2018, which is considered to be the “outside” of the solar system. It is the first time in human history that an artificial object has reached this point.
Despite these years, the electrical circuits built into the hardware of observation equipment have survived the test of time, surprisingly well.
The computer on board the spacecraft is outdated and does not require much power. All data collected by Voyager’s observation equipment is recorded on an 8-track tape recorder before being sent to Earth. Scientific American explains that the power consumption of this transmitter is as low as that of a refrigerator interior light.
Voyager has “less memory than the keychain-type remote controls currently used to unlock car doors,” Spillker explains.
The data obtained from Voyager’s mission is stored in this 8-track recorder. At the time of launch, this was state-of-the-art technology.
NASA/JPL
NASA is deciding which instrument to power as the on-board power supply gradually diminishes.
Voyager is likely to lose contact with the Earth after 2030. However, this does not mean that the two missions will end.
Both Voyager 1 and 2 are equipped with “Golden Records”. This is a 12-inch gold-plated copper record with information about the Earth.
The record contains 115 images, 55 different language greetings, as well as sounds such as wind and rain, the heartbeat of a person, and 90 minutes of music.
NASA’s golden record onboard the Voyager spacecraft.
NASA/Insider
According to an article by Scientific American, it will take about 20,000 years for two spacecraft carrying this record, which will be the time capsule of human life, to pass around the star Proxima Centauri, which is the closest to the solar system. It will take many years.
［原文：NASA is starting to shut down the Voyager probes, which launched in 1977 and made it deeper into space than anything since］
(Translation: Mutsumi Hase / Galileo, Editing: Toshihiko Inoue)
Note: If you purchase the product via the link in this article, the affiliate contract will give the editorial department a certain percentage of profit.
.png?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1)
