The Voyager 1 and 2 probe have been on a remarkable journey . Since their launching in 1977 , they have trip through the solar organization , past several of the outer planets , and channelize out beyond the borders of the solar system and into interstellar place . They are the most aloof humanity - made target in the universe , and they are still choke — even 47 old age after they first left Earth .
Keeping the old technology run for this long has n’t been easy , though . Various instrumental role have had to beturned offin lodge to save top executive , and the probe have had their portion ofcomputer glitchesto stack with . But they continue to collect science data to this 24-hour interval , revealing selective information about thecomposition of spacebeyond the sun ’s influence andviewing eventsfar beyond our satellite .
This is possible thanks to the incredible longevity of the spacecraft , which have keep wreak through all sorts of challenge . When you consider how often a new speech sound or data processor starts to conk out within a few long time , it ’s deep telling that the spacecraft have ladder for nearly five decades . As John Casani , a former Voyager labor manager from 1975 to 1977,explained , “ we did n’t plan them to last 30 years or 40 years , we design them not to fail . ”
Part of that design philosophy is about redundancy , an of import principle for all space hardware . The idea is to have backups of everything , so when one component stops work , there is a spare part on board ready to take over . That even applies to having two Voyager probes , according theto current project manager of Voyager , Suzanne Dodd : “ [ Voyager ] was design with about everything redundant . Having two spacecraft — right there is a redundance . ”
Just last month , the Voyager 1 probe experienced a problem with its thrusters that was have by a choked fuel tube . The tube should have had an opening of around 0.01 inches in diameter , but a buildup of silicon dioxide had reduced that to 0.0015 inch , and this was have the thruster far less effective than they should have been . The spacecraft does have other thrusters it can use instead , but switch over was a fragile and measured process that required using significant baron to warm them up first .
There ’s a trad - eoff between getting more thrust , for instance , and the risk to the scientific discipline instrument that occurred when they had to be temporarily shut off to warm up up the other thruster .
“ All the decisions we will have to make going ahead are going to require a lot more psychoanalysis and carefulness than they once did , ” Doddsaidof the repair .
The challenges of working on such an onetime mission let in conduct with outdated programming language and extremely limited resource — not to mention the communications postponement . As Voyager is so far off , it takes almost a full 24 hours to send a sign and another day to receive a answer . People have been brought out of retirement to help furbish up the ballistic capsule , work with newer engineers to follow up with creative solutions .
“ From where I model as a task manager , it ’s really very exciting to see young railroad engineer be excited to forge on Voyager . To take on the challenges of an old missionary station and to lick side by side with some of the Edgar Lee Masters , the citizenry that built the spacecraft , ” Dodd say . “ They need to find out from each other . ”
