Humanity escapes the solar system: Voyager 1 signals that it has reached the edge of interstellar sp

Humanity escapes the solar system: Voyager 1 signals that it has reached the edge of interstellar space - 11billion miles away

www.dailymai l.co.uk

With absolutely no attempt at hyperbole at all, it is fair to say that this is one of - if not the - biggest achievement of the human race.

For, as we speak, an object conceived in the human mind, and built by our tools, and launched from our planet, is sailing out of the further depths of our solar system - and will be the first object made by man to sail out into interstellar space.

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So, we appear to be on the verge of leaving the solar system, at least one of our own craft. Pretty fascinating and I'm sure that the information being gathered here is the first of it's kind in the history of space flight.

The Voyager 1, built by Nasa and launched in 1977 has spent the last 35 years steadily increasing its distance from Earth, and is now now 17,970,000,000km - or 11,100,000,000miles - away, travelling at 10km a second.


www.dailymai l.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

How could that not put a smile on your face.
People are awesome... well, most of them.

This is very exciting news. I have been following the Voyager missions off and on over the years and what they have accomplished is just astonishing.

The next big step for mankind will be to make this a manned mission.

Let's just hope some other intelligence doesn't decide to help our little probe return home to it's creator with a few enhancements.

Well it's awesome news but the title is a little bit misleading. More like one of humanities machines escapes the solar system. The day we manage to escape the solar system in one our of machines will be the day to truly rejoice. Assuming we survive that long.

10km a second though is pretty mind blowing, I didn't realize it was going so fast.

reply to post by Zcustosmorum


BAM! Thank you for this news OP. I needed some hopeful news today. Humans are working towards (at least some) noble achievements. Score one for science.

reply to post by Zcustosmorum


My concern is "PIRATES" WHO MAY FIND THE DATA ON IT. I mean WHY didnt scientist place a LOCAL or GENERAL locaiton of EA*RTH. then place a beacon there to communicate with EA*RTH. Instead scientist placed the MAP to EA*RTH out there not considering PIRATES, smh. Achievment MUCH APPRECIATED IN MANKINDS ABILITIES WITH TECHNOLOGY. But yea what about pirates???

Cool I hope they turn it around for one last look at where it came from so we can wave goodbye to the likkle magic spaceship
Cheers for the thread dude

Cool but I hope we like what we find.

Maybe our neighbors are dicks.

Let's also not forget that Voyager 1 has greetings from Earth and it is expected that it may take 40,000 years for it to reach another planetary system. If one speculates using our species as a guide and how we are destroying our planet, then there probably won't be anyone left here when and if visitors decide to visit us in the very distant future.

I've included a link should there be further interest in Carl Sagan's "Murmurs of Earth".

voyager.jpl.nasa.gov...

Its cool, and shows we used to build things that could LAST!!!

Let's hope it survives the rigors of real outer space!

Maybe what they learn outside the solar system will drastically change science. We can only speculate as to what is out there presently. We found that the Heliosphere was completely different than they thought it was just recently from information we received from these craft. Would they actually let us know what they find if it proves science is wrong about the area outside our solar bubble? Maybe they'll find air out there.

We have finally become an interstellar species...we could have accomplished so much more if we did not keep bombing people in the middle east for no reason..

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13

But yea what about pirates???

No need to get your panties in a twist. Consider this picture:


Full Picture

Now consider the fact that radio waves travel at the speed of light. If they find Voyager 1 they wont need it to tell them where Earth is, because the chances are they were travelling to Earth.

reply to post by Zcustosmorum


It's a little disheartening that NASA's greatest physical achievement took place 35 years ago.

Wow. Not bad for 30+ year old technology. Let me guess, Bell Labs UNIX? It's incredible how far a current technology can go.

If we were to launch a state-of-the-art craft with bolted on cameras, would that actually send pictures back? Frequency distances are not really my thing.

Amazing!

We have finally become an interstellar species. We could have accomplished so much more if ALL Nations & people stopped bombing and killing other Nations & people EVERYWHERE.....

It's expected to last at least until 2025, what a design, humanity owes the US. It would be an anticlimax though if all contact with Voyager would be lost after it goes beyond our solar system. Who knows, space there might be so unforgiving and harsh it just breaks down. Or it might go on but there's some unknown stuff which blocks or scrambles radio transmissions. But if everything goes well then there is little to stop humanity from building spacecraft, besides the obvious war already mentioned.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


What if theres someone aboard Voyager, and they arent telling us

I think this is a great achievement in human history. Finally being able to say we have reached deep space. Truly amazing.

However on the flip side Stephen Hawking stated that it might not be wise to fill Voyager 1 with all of this information about us, it could be our undoing.

“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach,” he said. “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the native Americans.”

Source

Video of Hawking making these claims.

-SAP-