UM-Bot Posted December 10, 2018 #1 Share Posted December 10, 2018 NASA has confirmed that the probe has become the second spacecraft ever to leave the heliosphere. https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/323976/voyager-2-has-now-entered-interstellar-space 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted December 10, 2018 #2 Share Posted December 10, 2018 3 hours ago, UM-Bot said: NASA has confirmed that the probe has become the second spacecraft ever to leave the heliosphere. https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/323976/voyager-2-has-now-entered-interstellar-space Pretty awesome that after over 40 years they can still communicate with the spacecraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecks Posted December 10, 2018 #3 Share Posted December 10, 2018 (edited) So we can still receive a signal from Voyager 2 ok at that distance? How far out will it need to be before we can no longer? Edited December 10, 2018 by Gecks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperdyer Posted December 10, 2018 #4 Share Posted December 10, 2018 32 minutes ago, Gecks said: So we can still receive a signal from Voyager 2 ok at that distance? How far out will it need to be before we can no longer? I was wondering about that as well. If they can the signals will take a long time. How we'll still know how to receive them. We don't need V'ger coming home looking for its creator. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted December 10, 2018 #5 Share Posted December 10, 2018 (edited) 46 minutes ago, Gecks said: So we can still receive a signal from Voyager 2 ok at that distance? How far out will it need to be before we can no longer? That's not a totally straightforward thing to answer as there are seveal factors involved. Firstly, and most obviously, the signal we receive on Earth gets weaker the further Voyager moves away from us. The second factor is its power source. It uses a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). These are diminishing in power as they age. The most likely out come is that, to preserve the spacecraft as long as possible, NASA will begin switching off some of the instruments in around 2020. Some time in the late 2020s or early 2030s the RTGs will generate too little power for the Voyagers to transmit and they will go silent. Edited December 10, 2018 by Waspie_Dwarf typo. 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted December 10, 2018 #6 Share Posted December 10, 2018 11 minutes ago, paperdyer said: If they can the signals will take a long time. Not at the speed the Voyagers are travelling. In more than 40 years the Voyagers have managed to get a to just 17 light hours from Earth. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+joc Posted December 11, 2018 #7 Share Posted December 11, 2018 7 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said: Not at the speed the Voyagers are travelling. In more than 40 years the Voyagers have managed to get a to just 17 light hours from Earth. So, if Voyager 1 was traveling in the direction of the red dwarf Proxima Centauri at a constant velocity of 60,000 km/hr, it would take 76,000 years (or over 2,500 generations) to travel that distance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecks Posted December 11, 2018 #8 Share Posted December 11, 2018 9 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said: That's not a totally straightforward thing to answer as there are seveal factors involved. Firstly, and most obviously, the signal we receive on Earth gets weaker the further Voyager moves away from us. The second factor is its power source. It uses a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). These are diminishing in power as they age. The most likely out come is that, to preserve the spacecraft as long as possible, NASA will begin switching off some of the instruments in around 2020. Some time in the late 2020s or early 2030s the RTGs will generate too little power for the Voyagers to transmit and they will go silent. May not have been a straightforward answer but you did a great job of it. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qxcontinuum Posted December 12, 2018 #9 Share Posted December 12, 2018 It is impressive to even think about the fact that we still capture signals from these two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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