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Voyager 1 artist concept in interstellar space.
Credit: NASA-JPL-Caltech.
Four decades after its launch, NASA "cut" and "plans to reduce" the resources of its Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 satellites, both of which are clearly in interstellar space. According to NASA, the goal is to extend the scientific operations of both spacecraft for perhaps a decade.
NASA confirms that it has shut down the built-in heating element of Voyager 2's Cosmic Ray Subsystem (CRS) instrument. In contrast, Voyager 1, says NASA, has more power to work because it has one less instrument . The space agency says it does not have a clear timetable for when the team will start turning off the heaters or instruments on the Voyager 1. However, it may be necessary to turn off another aircraft. heating by the end of the year.
Members of the mission team can now preliminary confirm that the Voyager 2 cosmic ray instrument still returns data, although it has fallen to an icy temperature of minus 7 degrees Celsius , NASA said. According to the agency, five of the Voyager 2 instruments continue to return data, including two instruments dedicated to the study of plasma (a gas in which atoms have been ionized and electrons float freely) and a magnetometer (which measures magnetic fields) to understand scattered clouds of material. in the interstellar space. Voyager 1, which has crossed interstellar space
August 2012, says NASA, continues to collect data from its own cosmic ray instrument; a plasma instrument, a magnetometer and a low energy charged particle instrument.
The two spacecraft also continue to study the interaction of the interstellar wind with the solar wind coming out of our Sun.
But as Voyager scientist Ed Stone points out, there is no guarantee that their operation will never stop because of a lack of fuel or the extremely cold temperatures of our very local interstellar environment.
Launched separately in 1977, the two Voyagers are now at a distance of nearly 11 billion kilometers from Earth. Yet both continue to provide details of how the heliosphere (the large, bubble-like, solar-influenced space) interacts with stellar winds circulating in interstellar space. says NASA. Traveling has already provided answers to many fundamental questions about the interaction of the heliosphere with these other stars' winds. This includes the composition and flux of cosmic rays outside our heliosphere, as well as the evolution of the solar wind from the inner solar system to the edge of our heliosphere.
"We hope to continue collecting data until the satellite has enough power to run its scientific instruments," Stone said. "But they might stop working for another reason before that."
Stone says that although there are no course corrections planned in the future, other systems will need to be shut down as on-board power supply decreases .
Diagram of the Voyager 1 and 2 probe beyond the heliosphere of our solar system.
Credit: NASA-JPL-Caltech
The next major review of the mission by NASA will take place in the middle of 2020. However, the space agency says that the Voyagers could also get to a point where none of the instruments will work but still send telemetry data.
NASA announced that this month, it will test the propellers of the Voyager 2 trajectory correction trajectory to ensure that they could be triggered if necessary for the spacecraft's antennas to be exactly directed towards the NASA Deep Space Network.
What lessons have been learned from these spaceships?
" A big lesson is that you need redundant systems Stone said. "Both Voyagers are already using backup systems." You want to have two of all if you can afford it, he says.
All the spaceships are doing it now, but that idea was new when the Voyagers were launched, Stone said.
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Voyager 1 artist concept in interstellar space.
Credit: NASA-JPL-Caltech.
Four decades after its launch, NASA "cut" and "plans to reduce" the resources of its Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 satellites, both of which are clearly in interstellar space. According to NASA, the goal is to extend the scientific operations of both spacecraft for perhaps a decade.
NASA confirms that it has shut down the built-in heating element of Voyager 2's Cosmic Ray Subsystem (CRS) instrument. In contrast, Voyager 1, says NASA, has more power to work because it has one less instrument . The space agency says it does not have a clear timetable for when the team will start turning off the heaters or instruments on the Voyager 1. However, it may be necessary to turn off another aircraft. heating by the end of the year.
Members of the mission team can now preliminary confirm that the Voyager 2 cosmic ray instrument still returns data, although it has fallen to an icy temperature of minus 7 degrees Celsius , NASA said. According to the agency, five of the Voyager 2 instruments continue to return data, including two instruments dedicated to the study of plasma (a gas in which atoms have been ionized and electrons float freely) and a magnetometer (which measures magnetic fields) to understand scattered clouds of material. in the interstellar space. Voyager 1, which has crossed interstellar space
August 2012, says NASA, continues to collect data from its own cosmic ray instrument; a plasma instrument, a magnetometer and a low energy charged particle instrument.
The two spacecraft also continue to study the interaction of the interstellar wind with the solar wind coming out of our Sun.
But as Voyager scientist Ed Stone points out, there is no guarantee that their operation will never stop because of a lack of fuel or the extremely cold temperatures of our very local interstellar environment.
Launched separately in 1977, the two Voyagers are now at a distance of nearly 11 billion kilometers from Earth. Yet both continue to provide details of how the heliosphere (the large, bubble-like, solar-influenced space) interacts with stellar winds circulating in interstellar space. says NASA. Traveling has already provided answers to many fundamental questions about the interaction of the heliosphere with these other stars' winds. This includes the composition and flux of cosmic rays outside our heliosphere, as well as the evolution of the solar wind from the inner solar system to the edge of our heliosphere.
"We hope to continue collecting data until the satellite has enough power to run its scientific instruments," Stone said. "But they might stop working for another reason before that."
Stone says that although there are no course corrections planned in the future, other systems will need to be shut down as on-board power supply decreases .
Diagram of the Voyager 1 and 2 probe beyond the heliosphere of our solar system.
Credit: NASA-JPL-Caltech
The next major review of the mission by NASA will take place in the middle of 2020. However, the space agency says that the Voyagers could also get to a point where none of the instruments will work but still send telemetry data.
NASA announced that this month, it will test the propellers of the Voyager 2 trajectory correction trajectory to ensure that they could be triggered if necessary for the spacecraft's antennas to be exactly directed towards the NASA Deep Space Network.
What lessons have been learned from these spaceships?
" A big lesson is that you need redundant systems Stone said. "Both Voyagers are already using backup systems." You want to have two of all if you can afford it, he says.
All the spaceships are doing it now, but that idea was new when the Voyagers were launched, Stone said.