Voyager 1 Enters Interstellar Space

Discussion in 'Science and Technology' started by MacLeod, Sep 13, 2013.

  1. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Voyager 1 has become the first man made object to leave the solar system.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24026153

    Surely an histroic achievement and it must complete the Voyage to the Planets mission (Voyagers 1 and 2).

    It's over 19 billion km from Earth
     
  2. CaptainDonovin

    CaptainDonovin Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Amazing achievement, hard to believe my Galaxy S3 has more memory than V1.
     
  3. Ar-Pharazon

    Ar-Pharazon Admiral Premium Member

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    Cool. They've been speculating for a long time now exactly when this would happen.

    Amazing it still has power too.
     
  4. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    Again? How many times will this happen?
     
  5. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    It's been debated for quite some time now but today they finally had the data and information they needed that, by and large, Voyager has left the solar system and has been for a year. But under larger definitions of what are solar system is comprised of Voyager has... a ways to go. It needs over 40,000 more years of travel to get past our most distant comets. But Voyager is beyond the the heliopause.
     
  6. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    ^So, in other words, at least one more time.
     
  7. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Well the article says it'll be about 40 000 years before Voyager 1 appraches another star as the probe is travelling at some 100 000mph. And the actual date the probe left the solar system was on or abouth the 25th August 2012. But as Trekker said they didn't have the data to confirm it's depature.
     
  8. Saturn0660

    Saturn0660 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Your S3.. Shit... a flip phone has more memory. And more computing power.
     
  9. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    My daughter's Tickle-me-Elmo doll may have more computing power than V1 and the Apollo 11 LEM combined! :p
     
  10. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I always thought it was amazing what they could accomplish with those early computers. You couldn't even run a modern coffee maker off the computers in that stuff.
     
  11. Silvercrest

    Silvercrest Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I suspected it will get announced again more than once before the next 40,000 years are up.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.

    "Well, actually he just passed through the security checkpoint and he's heading for the revolving doors. Does it count as leaving the building once he gets into the revolving doors, or after he goes out of them?

    "How about the awning outside? Is he still technically in the building if he hasn't come out from under the awning yet?

    "Okay, how far is it to the edge of the property?"
     
  12. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    It being past the heliopause is "out of the solarsytem enough" the most distant comets may be under the influence of the sun's gravity still but they're out of the heliopause as well. It just depends on what you want to define as "our solar system." Is it all bodies that are attracted to our sun? Then no, Voyager is still in it and will be for a very, very, long time.

    Or is it past the heliopause? The heliopause is the boundary where the Sun's solar wind can no longer push back the interstellar winds. Voyager is now beyond this point, it's in the interstellar medium. This was considered "out of the solar system enough" for NASA to make the declaration (among other factors too, like a change in the magnetic fields and such.)

    One way or another it's remarkable what Voyager has achieved and CONTINUES to achieve. I mean we're talking about a probe launched in 1977 that's now been operating longer than most cars people own. It's still out there running on power, gathering data and sending it back. It's got some wear and tear on it, some systems no longer working and that will be shut down over time as its fuel cells continue to degrade. But, come on, this thing is still trucking out there like nothing else and that's simply an amazing achievement.

    Breaking the heliopause and getting out into interstellar space is just... Wow. And she continues to go. 250-Khz CPU, 64 KB of memory your average digital watch would run laps around Voyager's computers. But she's out there trucking. Something to be proud of.
     
  13. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Voyager electronics aren't as finicky as ours, but still ahead of Apollo. It is a good middle ground in terms of bus design. No fuel cells, just the RTG.
    http://www.universetoday.com/100875/u-s-to-restart-plutonium-production-for-deep-space-exploration/

    This is about as far as you can take solar power:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft)

    Heck, even the Sojouner mini-rover had a little something called a Warm Electronics Box with plutonium: http://marsrover.nasa.gov/technology/is_severe_environments.html

    Because it had a solar panel up top, greens didn't notice, as was the case when Kaku stirred up a lot of anti-Cassini crap.
     
  14. Dukhat

    Dukhat Admiral Admiral

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    Another star? Shouldn't that be more like 4 million years?
     
  15. YellowSubmarine

    YellowSubmarine Vice Admiral Admiral

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  16. Lieut. Arex

    Lieut. Arex Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    just when we thought it was out they pull it back in.
     
  17. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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  18. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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  19. YellowSubmarine

    YellowSubmarine Vice Admiral Admiral

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    We should be wary. If it keeps doing it, the Solar System might get pregnant. Last thing we want is a star system-space probe hybrid overlapping with our own, broadcasting naked pictures, gibbering like a chimpanzee, singing Bulgarian folk music for all eternity, and poking Uranus with its satellite antenna.