NASA's Voyager 1 Probe May Exit Solar System Next Year

Space.Com- NASA's Voyager 1 Probe May Exit Solar System Next Year.

NASA previously estimated The Voyager craft would leave the solar system around 2016 seems things have changed with the new discovery of a bubbly environment in the heliosphere. Space.com- Edge Of Solar System Filled With Bubbles, Nasa Says.

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Either that or this is renewed estimate they are suggesting that may hold more credence than the 2016 date.

So NASA know believe the Voyagers will leave the solar system in 2012 4 years earlier.
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Well this is good news i guess if it holds true.!

Space.com- Older Link NASA previously believe Voyager would leave Solar System in 2016



It seems that we always are finding new and incredible things and concepts about space this why it is my favourite subject to talk and read about.

Does anybody know if they will still transmit any data after they exit the solar system. If so, does anybody know if they have predicted how long they will still communicate? Very interested in this. Would they still transmit from another solar system? Or is this just wishful thinking.

reply to post by scottlpool2003


Both Voyager 1 and 2 should continue to transmit until about 2025, but they won't reach any other stars in that time. They will continue to transmit data from the region outside our own solar system, though.

reply to post by CLPrime


That's immense, just imagine what could be found out there.

So many things to think about like if there is anybody out there the chances of the twins being picked up etc.

reply to post by CLPrime


I can't wait to see what they find or don't find when they finally exit the Solar systems boundary per se.

It will be an interesting venture indeed.

Space is fascinating.

The notion of our existence is perplexing in itself.

reply to post by TheUniverse


Indeed. It's amazing just how little we know about our own solar system...or even our own planet. The further out we go, the more surprises we find. I just wish I could've been strapped to one of those probes. Unfortunately, Voyager 2 was launched a decade before I was born.

Though, what the probes have found so far is already interesting enough - the fact that our solar system's heliosphere is being pushed up underneath by an adjacent region of magnetism.

Definitely one of my favorite subjects.

Like the little engine that could.

These two spacecraft are under rated in my opinion..

reply to post by liejunkie01


Well Said you should watch the Documentary The Planets from the BBC it was made in 1998-2000 i believe.

It has the Story of the Voyagers 1 and 2 and Pioneers 1 and 2 i believe.

Does it still take pictures?Or just send data...

Im just curious how it sends info to us.

reply to post by TheUniverse

Well Said you should watch the Documentary The Planets from the BBC it was made in 1998-2000 i believe

I will try to find it. Thank you for the information.

That would be a little old now.....lol......Them babies are screaming out of here. They can make it a long way in a decade.......... But interesting indeed...

reply to post by paperface


Just data. There's not much to take pictures of out there. The vast empty void of space at the edge of the solar system isn't quite fit for the cover of Nature.

After it leaves the solar system it's highly unlikely we'll ever hear a signal from it again. There's a plasma engulfing our solar system which may render the Voyagers signal null, not powerful enough to transmit thru the plasma.

Just saw a new article on this topic in the news today and wanted to update this thread.

Apparently Voyager 1 has now entered what NASA is calling a "cosmic purgatory"

Ed Stone, the Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena says, "Voyager tells us now that we're in a stagnation region in the outermost layer of the bubble around our solar system. Voyager is showing that what is outside is pushing back."

Full article here

I think this is a really fascinating topic. Since no man made object has ever gone that distance, everything it finds will be new to us!

Also, think about how much we have learned about our solar system and beyond since the Voyager 1 launch in 1977, and how much more we will learn until 2020 (when they estimate the spacecraft will run out of power and fuel).

Cool stuff!

reply to post by scottlpool2003


2025 is an estimate I heard we can still gat data from the Voyagers, earlier this year they turned on a thruster to boost one of them. Hooray plutonium decay!

reply to post by Illustronic


I think it's amazing to think about how this spacecraft had been transmitting for 36 years, and will continue to do so for another 14 years or so. It's also amazing to think of the distance that the transmissions are traveling!

Mind blowing stuff considering it was built using technology from the 70's!

reply to post by csuldm


In all that time Voyager 1 has only traveled about 16 and a half light hours. Something to consider when wrapping one's head around how far a light year is.

Here's a current rolling distance calculator for both Voyager spacecrafts, and notice how fast those kilometers roll. The site is full of just about anything one would want to know about the Voyagers.

voyager.jpl.nasa

I found it interesting the site stated if it weren't for the "hydrazine power" they could get data from the voyagers for another century and beyond. I didn't read too far into it but its my understanding that hydrazine is a propulsion fuel and not its power source. I thought it was plutonium decay, which can last at appreciable heat for 88 years. So maybe sort that out for me. The site does state it should receive data till 2025.

I found this excerpt very interesting, and fortunate NASA was ready to take advantage of.

The Voyager mission was designed to take advantage of a rare geometric arrangement of the outer planets in the late 1970s and the 1980s which allowed for a four-planet tour for a minimum of propellant and trip time. This layout of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which occurs about every 175 years, allows a spacecraft on a particular flight path to swing from one planet to the next without the need for large onboard propulsion systems.

Originally posted by Illustronic

voyager.jpl.nasa

I found it interesting the site stated if it weren't for the "hydrazine power" they could get data from the voyagers for another century and beyond. I didn't read too far into it but its my understanding that hydrazine is a propulsion fuel and not its power source. I thought it was plutonium decay, which can last at appreciable heat for 88 years. So maybe sort that out for me. The site does state it should receive data till 2025.

Maybe the hydrazine is for adjusting the attitude so the antenna points to Earth? I wonder if they can only transmit once per year and how accurately they need to point that antenna. It seems like they could give it a slow spin to point towards the Sun and wait for Earth to orbit to the right location once per year. Wikipedia said it uses radioisotopes for power.

Amazing jobs these small crafts are doing. And the years and mileage that they have put in and not even reached interstellar space. Makes you realize how small we are and immense the universe must be.

Snippet:

Both Voyagers are headed towards the outer boundary of the solar system in search of the heliopause, the region where the Sun's influence wanes and the beginning of interstellar space can be sensed. The heliopause has never been reached by any spacecraft; the Voyagers may be the first to pass through this region, which is thought to exist somewhere from 8 to 14 billion miles from the Sun. This is where the million-mile-per-hour solar winds slows to about 250,000 miles per hour—the first indication that the wind is nearing the heliopause. The Voyagers should cross the heliopause 10 to 20 years after reaching the termination shock. The Voyagers have enough electrical power and thruster fuel to operate at least until 2020. By that time, Voyager 1 will be 12.4 billion miles (19.9 billion KM) from the Sun and Voyager 2 will be 10.5 billion miles (16.9 billion KM) away. Eventually, the Voyagers will pass other stars. In about 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will drift within 1.6 light years (9.3 trillion miles) of AC+79 3888, a star in the constellation of Camelopardalis. In some 296,000 years, Voyager 2 will pass 4.3 light years (25 trillion miles) from Sirius, the brightest star in the sky . The Voyagers are destined—perhaps eternally—to wander the Milky Way.

source: voyager.jpl.nasa.gov...

reply to post by cloudyday


JPL says on that site the Voyagers are monitored 16 hours a day, or something like that. I don't see why the Voyagers wouldn't remain in a constant attitude to send data home, it's not like there is much else to do out there.

Originally posted by Illustronic
reply to post by cloudyday

 

JPL says on that site the Voyagers are monitored 16 hours a day, or something like that. I don't see why the Voyagers wouldn't remain in a constant attitude to send data home, it's not like there is much else to do out there.

If they are only 100 AU from Earth, then I can imagine that they might need the hydrazine to slowly change the attitude as Earth orbits the Sun? I don't know how accurately they need to point the antenna to communicate.