8 ms·

Is a project like Voyager worth repeating every so often? Speaking in financial terms relative to other space ventures, would it really be all that expensive to

by yock 14y ago

Is a project like Voyager worth repeating every so often? Speaking in financial terms relative to other space ventures, would it really be all that expensive to launch a deep space probe every few years and send it hurdling off toward some distant recess of space, outfitted with whatever state-of-the-art equipment we had available at the time? It just seems that we keep coming back to Voyager and we continue to be fascinated with the measurements it takes these many years later. Why are we not preparing even more capable craft for deep space exploration that future generations of humans could marvel at?

jamska 14y ago
There is the New Horizons Pluto/Kuiper probe belt sent in 2006. The thing is fast, it passed Jupiter in 13 months and is currently beyond the orbit of Uranus.
- Retric 14y ago
  New Horizons is traveling at about 15 km/s, 2 km/s slower than Voyager 1, and is still slowing down. When New Horizons reaches the same distance from the sun as Voyager 1 is now, its speed will be about 13 km/s (8 mi/s).[15] The close flyby of Saturn and Titan gave Voyager 1 a massive advantage with its extra gravity assist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
lmm 14y ago
The deep-space info is cool, but honestly we get a lot more scientific knowledge from leaving a craft in orbit around a planet (e.g. Cassini). If we hadn't had the lucky four-planet-flyby option with Voyager (something that won't happen again for another x00 years) we'd probably have kept it orbiting a single planet until it broke down - and got more data as a result.
aqme28 14y ago
In order to launch something so far out you have to "slingshot" off the other planets. A launch window like that only comes once every so often. "For example the Voyager missions which started in the late 1970s were made possible by the "Grand Tour" alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A similar alignment will not occur again until the middle of the 22nd century." source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_slingshot#Limits_to_slingshot_use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_slingshot#Limits_...
- InclinedPlane 14y ago
  Well, you don't have to go as fast as the Voyagers to end up out on the edges of the Solar System in a few decades. Even so, it's interesting that the New Horizons Pluto probe was launched with a higher speed relative to Earth than the Voyagers but will ultimately end up traveling slower because it won't slingshot by as many planets.
- DougWebb 14y ago
  I was thinking the same thing as yock, but if I had the resources to fund such a project I'd want to give the probe a power source that would allow it to accelerate continuously. I think we've got both the electric generator and propulsion technologies to do that now, where weren't available in the 70's. That would let the probe reach Voyager's distance much more quickly, and we'd be flexible in choosing a launch date. I'd also want to use some of that power to make the probe 'bright'. It could transit telemetry back to us with more power so we could keep contact with it longer, and it could also broadcast its presence in every other direction too. That way if there is anyone out there, they'll have a chance to find the probe. With the Voyager probes, even if the galaxy is teeming with intelligent space-traveling life it's unlikely that anyone will every find the tiny little things.
  - ChuckMcM 14y ago
    I suspect an ion drive system could do it. You still need to slingshot somewhat, and you would gain flexibility if you didn't try to fly by all the planets on the way out. New Horizons [1] looks to hit the Kuiper belt in 10 yrs so considerably faster than Voyager. [1] http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/mission_timeline.php http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/mission_timeline.php
vbtemp 14y ago
The closest thing is new horizons. However, due to some complications with the department of energy, there no longer exist RTGs (the nuclear-decay power source) of the kind that are used to power Voyager. New Horizons has an RTG, but it's much smaller capacity and will degrade much faster, so it's unlikely that NH will provide the same long term results as V1 & V2.
sehugg 14y ago
We're lucky that Voyager made it there in the first place. At one point Congress killed the Grand Tour idea in favor of a Jupiter-Saturn flyby. However management responded by adding piecemeal upgrades like a bigger power source and reprogrammable computer that would allow the Grand Tour idea to proceed. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter11.html http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter11.html
- planetguy 14y ago
  Though perhaps if they had killed the Grand Tour then we might have sent an orbital probe to Uranus or Neptune by now, and we might know a lot more about them. We have literally hours of direct observation on both these planets put together -- there's some really interesting data and it would be fantastic to get back there and do some better observations, because at present we know sod-all about them. Unfortunately, a probe to Uranus is still a fairly low priority for NASA. I think the worry is that we'd be spending a billion dollars on funding obvious toilet humor.

by yock 14y ago

jamska 14y ago

There is the New Horizons Pluto/Kuiper probe belt sent in 2006. The thing is fast, it passed Jupiter in 13 months and is currently beyond the orbit of Uranus.

Retric 14y ago
New Horizons is traveling at about 15 km/s, 2 km/s slower than Voyager 1, and is still slowing down. When New Horizons reaches the same distance from the sun as Voyager 1 is now, its speed will be about 13 km/s (8 mi/s).[15] The close flyby of Saturn and Titan gave Voyager 1 a massive advantage with its extra gravity assist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

lmm 14y ago

The deep-space info is cool, but honestly we get a lot more scientific knowledge from leaving a craft in orbit around a planet (e.g. Cassini). If we hadn't had the lucky four-planet-flyby option with Voyager (something that won't happen again for another x00 years) we'd probably have kept it orbiting a single planet until it broke down - and got more data as a result.

aqme28 14y ago

In order to launch something so far out you have to "slingshot" off the other planets. A launch window like that only comes once every so often. "For example the Voyager missions which started in the late 1970s were made possible by the "Grand Tour" alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A similar alignment will not occur again until the middle of the 22nd century." source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_slingshot#Limits_to_slingshot_use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_slingshot#Limits_...

InclinedPlane 14y ago
Well, you don't have to go as fast as the Voyagers to end up out on the edges of the Solar System in a few decades. Even so, it's interesting that the New Horizons Pluto probe was launched with a higher speed relative to Earth than the Voyagers but will ultimately end up traveling slower because it won't slingshot by as many planets.
DougWebb 14y ago
I was thinking the same thing as yock, but if I had the resources to fund such a project I'd want to give the probe a power source that would allow it to accelerate continuously. I think we've got both the electric generator and propulsion technologies to do that now, where weren't available in the 70's. That would let the probe reach Voyager's distance much more quickly, and we'd be flexible in choosing a launch date. I'd also want to use some of that power to make the probe 'bright'. It could transit telemetry back to us with more power so we could keep contact with it longer, and it could also broadcast its presence in every other direction too. That way if there is anyone out there, they'll have a chance to find the probe. With the Voyager probes, even if the galaxy is teeming with intelligent space-traveling life it's unlikely that anyone will every find the tiny little things.
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  I suspect an ion drive system could do it. You still need to slingshot somewhat, and you would gain flexibility if you didn't try to fly by all the planets on the way out. New Horizons [1] looks to hit the Kuiper belt in 10 yrs so considerably faster than Voyager. [1] http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/mission_timeline.php http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/mission_timeline.php

vbtemp 14y ago

The closest thing is new horizons. However, due to some complications with the department of energy, there no longer exist RTGs (the nuclear-decay power source) of the kind that are used to power Voyager. New Horizons has an RTG, but it's much smaller capacity and will degrade much faster, so it's unlikely that NH will provide the same long term results as V1 & V2.

sehugg 14y ago

We're lucky that Voyager made it there in the first place. At one point Congress killed the Grand Tour idea in favor of a Jupiter-Saturn flyby. However management responded by adding piecemeal upgrades like a bigger power source and reprogrammable computer that would allow the Grand Tour idea to proceed. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter11.html http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter11.html

planetguy 14y ago
Though perhaps if they had killed the Grand Tour then we might have sent an orbital probe to Uranus or Neptune by now, and we might know a lot more about them. We have literally hours of direct observation on both these planets put together -- there's some really interesting data and it would be fantastic to get back there and do some better observations, because at present we know sod-all about them. Unfortunately, a probe to Uranus is still a fairly low priority for NASA. I think the worry is that we'd be spending a billion dollars on funding obvious toilet humor.