3 ms·
I mentioned this point on a HN post a few months ago and someone said that the Voyager was launched at a very beneficial time, leveraging some gravitational pul
by financypants 2y ago
I mentioned this point on a HN post a few months ago and someone said that the Voyager was launched at a very beneficial time, leveraging some gravitational pull of some celestial body, so it’s unlikely we can just make a faster ship and catch up/surpass it.
- throwaway894345 2y agoIs there any reason that a new generation of ships couldn't leverage the same (or similar, if not better) gravitational pulls that benefited Voyager?
- Rebelgecko 2y agoThe "Grand Tour" alignment that Voyagers were initially intended to take advantage of only happens once every 175 years (although if the goal is just max speed I don't know if favorable conditions happen more often than that)
- guidoism 2y agoThat’s just a standard chemical rocket for the initial push and then a few gravity assists right? Couldn’t an ion engine with a nuclear reactor providing the electricity accelerate more over that period? I’m genuinely curious, I don’t know the answer.
- Sparkyte 2y agoEven an ion engine needs fuel. We shot out Voyager 1 in 1977. It has traversed 47 years of distance. There has been the talk of solar sails as well, but gravity assist propulsion is already so much easier to achieve for satellites.
- hinkley 2y agoIf I thought 17 km/s was even half of the fastest we would ever go, I’d have to give up a lot of dreams for the future. Since I’m not prepared to do so I will stick out my proverbial tongue at this assertion.