6 ms·

Voyager 1 is on the edge, and so is he

170 points by edw519 16y ago

checker 16y ago
What a magnificent story. It's amazing to me how he he and the spacecraft are so connected. The radios go off, he works on other projects, until one day they are reunited as both reach the ends of their journey, transitioning to whatever lies beyond. I'm saying that last part without hyperbole, which is beautiful to me.
- ra 16y ago
  I remember being about 5 years old in primary school and learning about & watching Voyager 1 reach Jupiter. It's incredible to think that thing has been flying through space my whole life. A beautiful story, Ed Stone's life would make a great movie.
  - JacobAldridge 16y ago
    I remember when Voyager II reached Neptune and we watched it in science class in primary (grade) school. Different specific events, but a shared experience across a generation.
    - ra 16y ago
      And when a Voyager crosses the heliopause in another ten or so years time, entering deep space, that'll be another new generation inspired by this incredible feat of humankind.
vbtemp 16y ago
I once found a manual describing the machine code for the Voyager computers (can't find it anymore). Recently there was a flipped bit in memory which caused serious problems: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-151 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-151 One of the things I find most fascinating about the mission are the RF systems -- the antenna on voyager is approx 40 watts yet the ground systems can read something on the order of kilobits per second -- and they are billions of miles away. This is an interesting read too: http://books.google.com/books?id=yws55Rx1orEC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=voyager+mission+error+correction+codes&source=bl&ots=V2oS9O2t9d&sig=OBnExaOWkHvHZlZLpJf7p9FgUJk&hl=en&ei=tAmnTcD9NNCbtwftkOCFAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAw http://books.google.com/books?id=yws55Rx1orEC&pg=PA28&#3...
- iwwr 16y ago
  Potentially, optical (laser) transmitters have a lot more bandwidth, but need very fine aiming control. At those distances, a high-gain antenna would have to be too large to be feasible, even with an extensive upgrade of ground-based receivers.
  - stewiecat 16y ago
    In the book "Voyager : seeking newer worlds in the third great age of discovery" they said that as the crafts got further out they had to use large radio antenna's in Spain, Hawaii, and Australia to lock onto the signal, creating an Earth-scale virtual antenna. Truly amazing stuff.
    - vbtemp 16y ago
      These are part of NASA's Deep Space Network, used to communicate with the fleet of interplanetary spacecraft (as well as plenty of satellites and the ISS). The you mentioned the three largest ones, each with a 70 meter dish.
      - mturmon 16y ago
        And here's the pic: http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/images/picture_70_bw_lg.jpg http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/images/picture_70_bw_lg.jp...
      - jules 16y ago
        Now that we're talking about big telescopes I can mention LOFAR: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOFAR http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOFAR It's interesting in that it consists of 15.000 small antennas and they are using computers to combine the signals which effectively gives you a 1 square kilometer "dish".
wingo 16y ago
What wonderful writing this was. I have been really pleased with some of these more pop articles recently: the Dan Plan one and the Snider huffpost piece being two examples. Very pleasant to read between hacks.
- mohsen 16y ago
  in that case you may like to read this one as well. http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-language-20110414,0,1473928.story http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-language-20110414... i found it very enjoyable.
meric 16y ago
We're where we are today because of pioneers of previous generations. My eyes always water a bit when I think about how much they would have wanted to see what we have now. Beautiful story.
iwwr 16y ago
While the Sun's radiation extends up to 100au or so, its gravitational influence goes to over 100K au (2 light years). In this deep freezing wasteland we may find many more orbiting bodies than in the solar system proper.
- JonnieCache 16y ago
  The oort cloud is supposed to lie in that range, and it is speculated to contain several trillion objects. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud
- zeynel1 16y ago
  Sun's gravitational influence goes to over 100K au (2 light years) What does sun’s “gravitational influence” mean? Probably you mean “Sun’s Newtonian’s gravity holds the satellite in orbit and also makes it move; as prescribed by Newton’s laws.” This cannot be right. Because according to the official physics derivation of the satellite equation as explained here for instance http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circles/u6l4c.cfm http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circles/u6l4c.cfm orbits are independent of the mass of the satellite; in other words, orbit equation does not include a term for the satellite. As far as orbits are concerned, the mass of the satellite does not enter the equations. Unless you believe in the occult and you blindly uphold Newton’s authority; the equation itself says that orbit is independent of any kind of Newtonian occult. Whatever putative gravitational influence the sun may have according to Newtonian doctrine, that influence does not extend to the satellite at any distance.
markbnine 16y ago
Here's a tool to check out some of the raw imagery from Voyager (if you can figure out how to use it. . . the tool is meant for planetary scientists). Check out Jupiter/Saturn. The next dump should get have more stuff from Uranus/Neptune. http://pilot.wr.usgs.gov http://pilot.wr.usgs.gov
InclinedPlane 16y ago
It's easy to forget how little we knew about the Solar System prior to the wave of exploration in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. A great deal of unfounded but seemingly logical speculation was wiped away and replaced with solid observationally backed theory. As heroic and remarkable an era of exploration as any. Indeed, perhaps all the more remarkable for its speed.

170 points by edw519 16y ago

What a magnificent story. It's amazing to me how he he and the spacecraft are so connected. The radios go off, he works on other projects, until one day they are reunited as both reach the ends of their journey, transitioning to whatever lies beyond. I'm saying that last part without hyperbole, which is beautiful to me.

ra 16y ago
I remember being about 5 years old in primary school and learning about & watching Voyager 1 reach Jupiter. It's incredible to think that thing has been flying through space my whole life. A beautiful story, Ed Stone's life would make a great movie.
- JacobAldridge 16y ago
  I remember when Voyager II reached Neptune and we watched it in science class in primary (grade) school. Different specific events, but a shared experience across a generation.
  - ra 16y ago
    And when a Voyager crosses the heliopause in another ten or so years time, entering deep space, that'll be another new generation inspired by this incredible feat of humankind.

vbtemp 16y ago

I once found a manual describing the machine code for the Voyager computers (can't find it anymore). Recently there was a flipped bit in memory which caused serious problems: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-151 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-151 One of the things I find most fascinating about the mission are the RF systems -- the antenna on voyager is approx 40 watts yet the ground systems can read something on the order of kilobits per second -- and they are billions of miles away. This is an interesting read too: http://books.google.com/books?id=yws55Rx1orEC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=voyager+mission+error+correction+codes&source=bl&ots=V2oS9O2t9d&sig=OBnExaOWkHvHZlZLpJf7p9FgUJk&hl=en&ei=tAmnTcD9NNCbtwftkOCFAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAw http://books.google.com/books?id=yws55Rx1orEC&pg=PA28&#3...

iwwr 16y ago
Potentially, optical (laser) transmitters have a lot more bandwidth, but need very fine aiming control. At those distances, a high-gain antenna would have to be too large to be feasible, even with an extensive upgrade of ground-based receivers.
- stewiecat 16y ago
  In the book "Voyager : seeking newer worlds in the third great age of discovery" they said that as the crafts got further out they had to use large radio antenna's in Spain, Hawaii, and Australia to lock onto the signal, creating an Earth-scale virtual antenna. Truly amazing stuff.
  - vbtemp 16y ago
    These are part of NASA's Deep Space Network, used to communicate with the fleet of interplanetary spacecraft (as well as plenty of satellites and the ISS). The you mentioned the three largest ones, each with a 70 meter dish.
    - mturmon 16y ago
      And here's the pic: http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/images/picture_70_bw_lg.jpg http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn/images/picture_70_bw_lg.jp...
    - jules 16y ago
      Now that we're talking about big telescopes I can mention LOFAR: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOFAR http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOFAR It's interesting in that it consists of 15.000 small antennas and they are using computers to combine the signals which effectively gives you a 1 square kilometer "dish".

wingo 16y ago

What wonderful writing this was. I have been really pleased with some of these more pop articles recently: the Dan Plan one and the Snider huffpost piece being two examples. Very pleasant to read between hacks.

mohsen 16y ago
in that case you may like to read this one as well. http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-language-20110414,0,1473928.story http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-language-20110414... i found it very enjoyable.

meric 16y ago

We're where we are today because of pioneers of previous generations. My eyes always water a bit when I think about how much they would have wanted to see what we have now. Beautiful story.

iwwr 16y ago

While the Sun's radiation extends up to 100au or so, its gravitational influence goes to over 100K au (2 light years). In this deep freezing wasteland we may find many more orbiting bodies than in the solar system proper.

JonnieCache 16y ago
The oort cloud is supposed to lie in that range, and it is speculated to contain several trillion objects. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oort_cloud
zeynel1 16y ago
Sun's gravitational influence goes to over 100K au (2 light years) What does sun’s “gravitational influence” mean? Probably you mean “Sun’s Newtonian’s gravity holds the satellite in orbit and also makes it move; as prescribed by Newton’s laws.” This cannot be right. Because according to the official physics derivation of the satellite equation as explained here for instance http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circles/u6l4c.cfm http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/circles/u6l4c.cfm orbits are independent of the mass of the satellite; in other words, orbit equation does not include a term for the satellite. As far as orbits are concerned, the mass of the satellite does not enter the equations. Unless you believe in the occult and you blindly uphold Newton’s authority; the equation itself says that orbit is independent of any kind of Newtonian occult. Whatever putative gravitational influence the sun may have according to Newtonian doctrine, that influence does not extend to the satellite at any distance.

markbnine 16y ago

Here's a tool to check out some of the raw imagery from Voyager (if you can figure out how to use it. . . the tool is meant for planetary scientists). Check out Jupiter/Saturn. The next dump should get have more stuff from Uranus/Neptune. http://pilot.wr.usgs.gov http://pilot.wr.usgs.gov

InclinedPlane 16y ago

It's easy to forget how little we knew about the Solar System prior to the wave of exploration in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. A great deal of unfounded but seemingly logical speculation was wiped away and replaced with solid observationally backed theory. As heroic and remarkable an era of exploration as any. Indeed, perhaps all the more remarkable for its speed.