A fascinating event....

[Fozzer]

..in Space Exploration:

Voyager 1 has finally left us far behind!

http://news.kron4.com/news/voyager-1-fi ... lar-space/

11.7 billion miles from Earth!

(The Sun is 93 million miles from earth).

An amazing feat of engineering, manoeuvring, guidance, and radio communication!

What a wonderful journey....Where to next?.... ....!

Paul.... ..!

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

[ViperPilot]

Especially considering the fact that the Cosmic Ray Instrument platform, which was designed specifically to determine the 'border' between the Heliopause and Interstellar space burned out back in the early 80's! That is part of the reason the analysis took so long; JPL had to re-orient the spacecraft to bring different sensing packages to bear, which weren't designed to analyze Cosmic Ray particles.

All that compiled data equals the first man made object to leave the confines of our planetary system, and the influence of the Sun.

Three cheers to all of the folks at JPL!

[ozzy72]

It is pretty amazing. I've been following Voyager on and off for most of my life. I was explaining this all to Emi last night. She reckons I could have got there quicker on my Kwaka

[Fozzer]

The thing that I cant get my head around, is the time it takes to communicate, both ways, with these spacecraft, considering their vast distance from Earth!

By the time you have sent a transmission instruction; "TURN LEFT NOW", it just take ages before the craft receives the signal, and responds, and they've missed the bloody turning!... ...!
It must be difficult enough with the "Mars Rover", considering the distance involved, but how they coped with communicating both ways with the two Voyagers, zillions of miles away, is quite beyond me!
The whole exercise is an amazing feat, and I really admire all the folks at JPL for their expertise, enthusiasm, and dedication!

The whole thing blows me away!

Paul.... ...!

[ozzy72]

It just shows what we as a species can do when we get our poop together and get focused! And also why engineers not popstars and footballers should be hero's and lauded in the press!

[Fozzer]

It would appear that if you wish to tell Voyager 1 to turn left at the next junction, you have to send the radio instruction 17 hours in advance.....

....or it will miss the turn... ...!

The transmission bits and bobs..>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1

Paul.... .....!

[ViperPilot]

Some other Voyager tidbits (From the JPL website):

"... The Voyager spacecraft can point its scientific instruments on the scan platform to an accuracy of better than one-tenth of a degree. This is comparable to bowling strike-after-strike ad infinitum, assuming that you must hit within one inch of the strike pocket every time. Such precision is necessary to properly center the narrow-angle picture whose square field-of-view would be equivalent to the width of a bowling pin."

"... The sensitivity of our deep-space tracking antennas located around the world [The Deep Space Network] is truly amazing. The antennas must capture Voyager information from a signal so weak that the power striking the antenna is only 10 exponent -16 watts (1 part in 10 quadrillion). A modern-day electronic digital watch operates at a power level 20 billion times greater than this feeble level."

"... The Voyager delivery accuracy at Neptune of 100 km (62 mi), divided by the trip distance or arc length traveled of 7,128,603,456 km (4,429,508,700 mi), is equivalent to the feat of sinking a 3630 km (2260 mi) golf putt, assuming that the golfer can make a few illegal fine adjustments while the ball is rolling across this incredibly long green."


Pretty good for a machine that operates on a total of about 400 watts!

[Fozzer]

...it just goes to show that there are a handful of folks on this Planet who are really, really clever... ...!

...(I don't go much on what's left)... ...!

Paul.... ... ...!

[expat]

The thing that I cant get my head around, is the time it takes to communicate, both ways, with these spacecraft, considering their vast distance from Earth!

By the time you have sent a transmission instruction; "TURN LEFT NOW", it just take ages before the craft receives the signal, and responds, and they've missed the bloody turning!... ...!

It not that hard Fozzer, Voyager is at Area 51 in the hangar next to the stage set where they faked the moon landings.............

Matt

[Fozzer]

The thing that I cant get my head around, is the time it takes to communicate, both ways, with these spacecraft, considering their vast distance from Earth!

By the time you have sent a transmission instruction; "TURN LEFT NOW", it just take ages before the craft receives the signal, and responds, and they've missed the bloody turning!... ...!

It not that hard Fozzer, Voyager is at Area 51 in the hangar next to the stage set where they faked the moon landings.............

Matt

.... ... ...!

I must admit, Matt, that I get far too trusting in news broadcasts... ..!

...but the travels of Voyager 1 fits together very well with my nightly dreams of my travels through the Solar System in my Starfighter Space Fighter, protecting Earth from Alien invasions...

But unlike Voyager 1, I have authentic film of my interstellar craft travelling through space....trust me.... ....!

There's nothing quite like having an Acme MK IV Hyper-drive, cloaking device, and twin laser guns, installed in your Space Craft*.... ...!

Paul... ... ...!

* Vivid imagination required.... ...!

[BLAZE]

It just shows what we as a species can do when we get our poop together and get focused! And also why engineers not popstars and footballers should be hero's and lauded in the press!

Boy you got that so right Ozzy!!

[BLAZE]

It would appear that if you wish to tell Voyager 1 to turn left at the next junction, you have to send the radio instruction 17 hours in advance ...

I've drivin some trucks with real bad play in the sreering wheel before.. But that's ridiculous! .....