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Voyager 1 Returning Science Data from All Four Instruments

84 points by NKosmatos 2y ago

31337Logic 2y ago
This is amazing!! What a testament to skilled engineering and teamwork!!
unethical_ban 2y ago
Are there people doing direct research on the readings? What kind of new understanding of the universe are we getting from the data? That isn't meant to throw shade. It's an inspiration of human engineering.
- nameless912 2y ago
  A friend of mine who has a PhD in Geology (not exactly a related field, but eh) and is interested in the Voyager program was telling me about this the other day. Basically, it's not that these measurements give us any new understanding of the universe _by themselves_; but, they may (and probably are) confirming theoretical models we have about interstellar space, providing more color and texture to other observations, and improving our understanding through increased richness of understanding. In other words, extremely useful but not in obvious "here's the smoking gun" ways.
  - gumby 2y ago
    There is plenty of new learning to be had. For example the heliosphere may be larger than expected. By now it’s expected that voyager 1 ‘s trajectory” should be affected by the interstellar “current” of particles (well, the resulting B field), but that deflection hasn’t been seen yet: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/voyager-may-not-have-entered-interstellar-space-after-all https://www.sciencenews.org/article/voyager-may-not-have-ent...
robgibbons 2y ago
The Voyager Interstellar Mission page on the NASA website[1] is pretty informative. Voyagers 1 & 2 are both in the final phase of their extended mission (the Voyager Interstellar Mission, or VIM) which is focused on collecting data from the interstellar medium. Their initial mission was completed with their respective flyby of the gas giants. > It is appropriate to consider the VIM as three distinct phases: the termination shock, heliosheath exploration, and interstellar exploration phases. The two Voyager spacecraft began the VIM operating in an environment controlled by the Sun's magnetic field with the plasma particles being dominated by those contained in the expanding supersonic solar wind. This is the characteristic environment of the termination shock phase. At some distance from the Sun, the supersonic solar wind is held back from further expansion by the interstellar wind. The first feature encountered by a spacecraft as a result of this interstellar wind/solar wind interaction was the termination shock where the solar wind slows from supersonic to subsonic speed and large changes in plasma flow direction and magnetic field orientation occur. > On Aug. 25, 2012, Voyager 1 flew beyond the heliopause and entered interstellar space, making it the first human-made object to explore this new territory. At the time, it was at a distance of about 122 AU, or about 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from the sun. This kind of interstellar exploration is the ultimate goal of the Voyager Interstellar Mission. Voyager 2, which is traveling in a different direction from Voyager 1, crossed the heliopause into interstellar space on November 5, 2018. The Mission Status page[2] is also really neat to look at. Although each probe is down to about half of its original sensor stack, they both still have charged particle, low energy cosmic ray, magnetometer and plasma sensors running, and they're both still collecting useful data in the interstellar medium well past the heliopause. [1] https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/interstellar-mission/ https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/interstellar-mission/ [2] https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/ https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/
protocolture 2y ago
Does the program have a command log? Can I see exactly what each fix was?
banku_brougham 2y ago
Voyager is my favorite science story, its like a Homerian epic.

84 points by NKosmatos 2y ago

This is amazing!! What a testament to skilled engineering and teamwork!!

Are there people doing direct research on the readings? What kind of new understanding of the universe are we getting from the data? That isn't meant to throw shade. It's an inspiration of human engineering.

nameless912 2y ago
A friend of mine who has a PhD in Geology (not exactly a related field, but eh) and is interested in the Voyager program was telling me about this the other day. Basically, it's not that these measurements give us any new understanding of the universe _by themselves_; but, they may (and probably are) confirming theoretical models we have about interstellar space, providing more color and texture to other observations, and improving our understanding through increased richness of understanding. In other words, extremely useful but not in obvious "here's the smoking gun" ways.
- gumby 2y ago
  There is plenty of new learning to be had. For example the heliosphere may be larger than expected. By now it’s expected that voyager 1 ‘s trajectory” should be affected by the interstellar “current” of particles (well, the resulting B field), but that deflection hasn’t been seen yet: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/voyager-may-not-have-entered-interstellar-space-after-all https://www.sciencenews.org/article/voyager-may-not-have-ent...

robgibbons 2y ago

The Voyager Interstellar Mission page on the NASA website[1] is pretty informative. Voyagers 1 & 2 are both in the final phase of their extended mission (the Voyager Interstellar Mission, or VIM) which is focused on collecting data from the interstellar medium. Their initial mission was completed with their respective flyby of the gas giants. > It is appropriate to consider the VIM as three distinct phases: the termination shock, heliosheath exploration, and interstellar exploration phases. The two Voyager spacecraft began the VIM operating in an environment controlled by the Sun's magnetic field with the plasma particles being dominated by those contained in the expanding supersonic solar wind. This is the characteristic environment of the termination shock phase. At some distance from the Sun, the supersonic solar wind is held back from further expansion by the interstellar wind. The first feature encountered by a spacecraft as a result of this interstellar wind/solar wind interaction was the termination shock where the solar wind slows from supersonic to subsonic speed and large changes in plasma flow direction and magnetic field orientation occur. > On Aug. 25, 2012, Voyager 1 flew beyond the heliopause and entered interstellar space, making it the first human-made object to explore this new territory. At the time, it was at a distance of about 122 AU, or about 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from the sun. This kind of interstellar exploration is the ultimate goal of the Voyager Interstellar Mission. Voyager 2, which is traveling in a different direction from Voyager 1, crossed the heliopause into interstellar space on November 5, 2018. The Mission Status page[2] is also really neat to look at. Although each probe is down to about half of its original sensor stack, they both still have charged particle, low energy cosmic ray, magnetometer and plasma sensors running, and they're both still collecting useful data in the interstellar medium well past the heliopause. [1] https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/interstellar-mission/ https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/interstellar-mission/ [2] https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/ https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/

protocolture 2y ago

Does the program have a command log? Can I see exactly what each fix was?

banku_brougham 2y ago

Voyager is my favorite science story, its like a Homerian epic.