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Voyager 1 loses contact with NASA, turns on retro transmitter not used since 1981
(www.livescience.com)
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this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2024
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It's sad it'll probably lose contact relatively soon. Does anyone know if there are any plans for a new long distance probe?
They're already out there. Just don't get as much news as Voyager. Unfortunately I don't think any will be capable of lasting as long since we stopped using the radio isotope generators. New horizons is currently in the Kupier belt. It's the 5th such probe to reach escape velocity from our solar system. Pioneer 10 and 11 were the other non-voyager probes.
Edit: I was incorrect, new horizons does use an RTG for power. But right now its mission is slated to end in 2029. I wonder if it will be kept alive like the Voyager probes.
Edit 2: yeah, the RTG is slated to run out of power to run the transmitters in the 2030s. It was originally designed to be more powerful but the DOE delayed delivery of the plutonium 238 required.
Dept of Education? D O Emissions? Can't figure it out even with some searching
Department of Energy. The main role is to handle the radioactive materials that the government creates and uses
Also one of the three departments Rick Perry (R-Texas) couldn't remember that he wanted to eliminate.
"See? If there is no government agency handlin' radioactive waste, that problem goes away!"
He did change his tune after he became Secretary of Energy.
Also, May 15, 2023 — Former Energy Secretary Rick Perry would not support former President Donald Trump in his reelection campaign when asked on Sunday,
Something like rats and sinking ships come to mind. Now that Trump shows his true fashist colors, some REPs don't want to end up as Trumps Himmler or Göring...
Department of Energy.
Department of Entropy
Department of Enthalpy
Department of Energy
Cool. Thank you for the info. I'll have to look them up.
Sorry I put a couple updates in there as well.
I think for the Voyager launches the planets and the sun were aligned in such a way that the probes could be slingshotted around them to gain speed. I think such an alignment is quite rare?
It's a bit more complicated than that. New Horizons actually went way faster than the Voyager probes, getting to Pluto in only 9.5 years. It took Voyager 2 just slightly longer than 12 years to reach Neptune for comparison. The planetary alignment you are thinking about was due to relative proximity. Obviously you can't use Saturn to slingshot you to Uranus if they are on opposite sides of the solar system. All the outer planets were going to be on the same side of the solar system, allowing the Voyager probes to visit them all in succession.
It only happens every 400 years or so.
It's pretty crazy to think about. The Voyager mission isn't just a big thing for the current generations, but also for many future generations, who will not have as good an opportunity.