Here's to Voyager 1 & 2: 30 years in flight!

[Neopeius]

I thought one of the Voyagers had hit the Heliopause. Or was it just the Heliosheath? It was a big deal, I remember.

 

[Dude]

Thanks, Turbo.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Before they fell silent, the Pioneers were used by the SETI@Home project and other SETI projects as test signals for their detection scheme. Both the Pioneers and Voyagers were also used as training aids for NASA's Deep Space Network operators.

Versatile birds, indeed!

Wouldn't it be great if someone did find the "message in a bottle" on one of those craft? At least they would know that they weren't alone in the void.

AG

 

[Turbo]

Neopeius said:
I thought one of the Voyagers had hit the Heliopause. Or was it just the Heliosheath? It was a big deal, I remember.

The Voyagers passed the termination shock and entered the heliosheath in December 2004 and May 2006, respectively. Voyager 2's earlier-than-expected entry, at 76 AU from the Sun (as opposed to Voyager 1's 94 AU), has caused speculation that the heliosphere is irregularly shaped.

 

[Neroon]

Mysterion said:

Neroon said:
I highly recommend this CD: Voyager-Grand -Tour Suite as a nice bit of background music. It's a bit new age like for some, but I still find it beautiful.

Well, there's always Holst's The Planets if you want something a bit more classical.

Without a doubt, some of the very best.

I mentioned the above link, because the music was created specifically for the Voyager missions. According to the CD's liner notes, the music was

crafted utilizing 'sounds' from outer space, billions of miles from Earth. These 'sounds' are actually inaudible electromagnetic disturbances that have been converted into audio signals by JPL's Plasma Wave Subsystem Team. The signals were then sampled and computer wavedrawn into cosmic musical instruments and voices, then classically scored.

 

[Neopeius]

Turbo said:

Neopeius said:
I thought one of the Voyagers had hit the Heliopause. Or was it just the Heliosheath? It was a big deal, I remember.

The Voyagers passed the termination shock and entered the heliosheath in December 2004 and May 2006, respectively. Voyager 2's earlier-than-expected entry, at 76 AU from the Sun (as opposed to Voyager 1's 94 AU), has caused speculation that the heliosphere is irregularly shaped.

I remember Congress was talking about shutting down Voyager's funding, and I encouraged all of my friends to write letters to local congressmen to at least wait until the probes hit the heliopause. I even got a good response back from Feinstein.

Within a week, Voyager hit the heliosheath, and it was all kind of moot. ^_^

 

[Turbo]

Neopeius said:

Turbo said:

Neopeius said:
I thought one of the Voyagers had hit the Heliopause. Or was it just the Heliosheath? It was a big deal, I remember.

The Voyagers passed the termination shock and entered the heliosheath in December 2004 and May 2006, respectively. Voyager 2's earlier-than-expected entry, at 76 AU from the Sun (as opposed to Voyager 1's 94 AU), has caused speculation that the heliosphere is irregularly shaped.

I remember Congress was talking about shutting down Voyager's funding, and I encouraged all of my friends to write letters to local congressmen to at least wait until the probes hit the heliopause. I even got a good response back from Feinstein.

Within a week, Voyager hit the heliosheath, and it was all kind of moot. ^_^

Heh. I don't get why Congress would shut down 2 of the 3 most successful space missions ever (the other being the Hubble), but then again, I don't understand a lot of their NASA funding (rather non-funding) decisions.

 

[Neopeius]

Turbo said:

Neopeius said:

Turbo said:

Neopeius said:
I thought one of the Voyagers had hit the Heliopause. Or was it just the Heliosheath? It was a big deal, I remember.

The Voyagers passed the termination shock and entered the heliosheath in December 2004 and May 2006, respectively. Voyager 2's earlier-than-expected entry, at 76 AU from the Sun (as opposed to Voyager 1's 94 AU), has caused speculation that the heliosphere is irregularly shaped.

I remember Congress was talking about shutting down Voyager's funding, and I encouraged all of my friends to write letters to local congressmen to at least wait until the probes hit the heliopause. I even got a good response back from Feinstein.

Within a week, Voyager hit the heliosheath, and it was all kind of moot. ^_^

Heh. I don't get why Congress would shut down 2 of the 3 most successful space missions ever (the other being the Hubble), but then again, I don't understand a lot of their NASA funding (rather non-funding) decisions.

Because Congress tends to be cheap when it comes to space, and Voyager requires money to maintain monitoring. For a while they probes were just kinda floating, not really doing much.

 

[Goliath]

Turbo said:
Voyager 1 is currently further from the Sun than any known natural solar-system object, including Pioneer 10. As of March 2007, it is 102 AU, or 9.5 billion miles, from Earth, traveling at 3.6 AUs per year. It is not currently traveling towards any astronomical point, but in 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will be within 1.7 light years of the star AC+793888 in the constellation Camelopardis.

Yes!!!

(Pumps fist)

Voy-a-ger! Voy-a-ger!

 

[Turbo]

Of course, Voyager 2 needs to fall into a black hole, have its nameplate slightly gouged and scarred, and find the Borg homeworld.