3 ms·
3. Use relays. Of course that would mean sending (a) giant receiver dish(es) in the general direction a probe is sent. On the flip side, if using a single rela
by RetroTechie 2y ago
3. Use relays.
Of course that would mean sending (a) giant receiver dish(es) in the general direction a probe is sent. On the flip side, if using a single relay it could travel at roughly 1/2 the speed of the probe.
Note that signal strength weakens with distance^2. So if eg. you'd have 2 relays (1/3 and 2/3 between Earth & the probe), each relay would receive 9x stronger signal.
No doubt the 'logistics' (trajectory, gravity assist options, mission cost etc) make this impractical. But it is an option.
- ethbr1 2y agoThat'd be really cool! And definitely helped by the fact that you'd only need to head out at a fraction of Voyagers speeds to get the benefit. There's some details on the Voyager gravity-assist mechanics here [0], but you'd also need the escape trajectory to be pointed in the Voyager direction which would further constrain... That said, Earth-Jupiter-Saturn alignments don't seem that rare (on a decades scale). [0] http://www.gravityassist.com/IAF3-2/Ref.%203-143.pdf http://www.gravityassist.com/IAF3-2/Ref.%203-143.pdf