Voyager 1

[Deep_Eye]

Okay, I read not too long ago that Voyager is 13.5 billion kilometers from the sun. Does anyone know if the thing is still operating or still in one piece? Or have the scientists been measuring how far away it would be by now (if it was still operational, ect)?

[antoniseb]

Originally posted by Deep_Eye@Jun 1 2004, 02:18 AM
Does anyone know if the thing is still operating or still in one piece?

Here is the official NASA web-site on it.
Voyager Website
The links to information from the Plasma systems shows that the data from it is still coming in reliably.

Note that I can't find anything that says that Voyager is decelerating faster than it should according to Newtonian Mechanics [similar to the claims for Pioneer 10].

[Littlemews]

90 AU... that means it still in the Kuiper Belt.

[Greg]

Do you have a link to the pioneer 10 article? I have not read that one for myself yet and it seems to be central to various steady state theory counter-arguments to the big bang theory.

[Deep_Eye]

No I don't sorry. Thanks for the Voyager site though-its pretty interesting.

[antoniseb]

Originally posted by Greg@Jun 1 2004, 06:33 AM
Do you have a link to the pioneer 10 article? I have not read that one for myself yet and it seems to be central to various steady state theory counter-arguments to the big bang theory.

Here's a few Papers on the topic..
The Original: John D. Anderson, 1998 Note: he starts off right away with a good explantion for why Voyager data is not as helpful for this study. It also gives some very compelling statement near the end about data from the Viking-Mars experiments that suggest that this is a lightweight spacecraft phenomenon rather than a new law of physics.

More recent:
Marmet, May 2003 This paper makes a good case for the explanation being more dust in the Kuiper Belt than previously thought.
Nieto & Turyshev, Aug 2003 This one discusses the anomaly, and a possible mission to learn more about it. [31 pages]

An alternative theorist:
Aladar Stolmar, May, 2001
actually, there are so many alternative theory papers, I won't try to list them. Do a google search.

[John L]

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are both still operating, collecting scientific data, and transmitting that data back to Earth where it is still actively received and studied. Soon Voyager 1 should pass through the Termination Shock and begin its trip to the Heliopause. Unfortunately the amount of electrical power provided by the Plutonium RTG's is sufficient only to keep the Voyagers working until about 2020. At that time the power will have dropped to a point that the probes will no longer be able to power any of the onboard instruments, effectively ending the missions.

Pioneer 10 and 11 are both on similar journeys, but their power levels are too low for any transmission from them to be detected, and it is believed that both are now incapable of locking their main dishes onto Earth for communications.

All four will eventually leave the solar system never to return. Over the next 10 million years they will pass by several nearby stars, but they will be forever drifting through the galaxy.

[Deep_Eye]

Termination Shock? Heliopause?

[StarLab]

As you pass by the termshock, interstellar wind becomes almost as strong as the solar wind, and by heliopause, the interstellar wind has pretty much taken over.
Any chance aliens might want to reboot the Voyagers and make contact with us via the Voyagers?
And what are the odds of a KBO collided with one of our precious probes?

[Deep_Eye]

And what are the odds of a KBO collided with one of our precious probes?

So far, none . Both probes are still operation and sending back signals. Any significant KBO colliding with a probe at those speeds would destroy the thing.

[galaxygirl]

Termination Shock? Heliopause?

The heliopause is where the sun's solar wind is stopped by the gas and dust that is located between stars.

Termination shock is a boundary inside the heliopause where solar wind particles are drastically slowed down.

[Deep_Eye]

Okay thanks . That photo is very nice by the way. What site did you get it from?

[galaxygirl]

I did a google search, but the image is from NASA's JPL site.

[Deep_Eye]

Okay thanks. I have some stuff to look into now-on topics other than just this. Hopefully they have pictures like that for many other things as well.