Voyager 1 - thrusters fired after 37 years

[pmrid]

Wow. What else can you say? It's just bloody amazing. See the article:
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/news/details.php?article_id=108
They were able to command the thrusters to fire for some attitude adjustments. Wow!! :eyepop:
Peter

[deanm]

Thanks for posting that, Peter - it is bloody amazing!
Dean

[glend]

Yes that is amazing. Veeger lives on.

[Atmos]

They don't build em like the good ol days!
I suppose one of the benefits of space is that it doesn't get as "weathered" as here on the salty oxygenated blue globe.

[deanm]

Fair comment, Colin: but 40-odd years of constant cosmic radiation & near absolute-zero degrees C has to take its toll on moving parts (like thruster valves), bearings, propellant seals etc.
I think the fact that we can still communicate with both Voyagers is also amazing - despite ever-diminishing output by the radioisotope electrical power + heat generator they carry.
Dean

[Ric]

Definitely a +1 for human technology.

[glend]

And for nuclear power for deep space probes.

[xelasnave]

Will they bring it back so as to safely dispose of the waste?
Alex

[The_bluester]

Imaging doing the sums on the risk that they would lose control of the spacecraft and that would be the end! And waiting a day or so to find out if it had all gone pear shaped.

The reliability is just astounding

[Kunama]

Thanks Peter for the link.
Astounding :thumbsup:

[blindman]

They also upgraded cameras to HD, half way thru.

[redbeard]

Amazing! Very cool.

Imagine if they used a bunch of the Voyagers around Earth for our Internet. How reliable would that be!

Cheers

Damien.

[Decimus]

Thanks for this, Peter. I am gobsmacked by the thought that they can still command this spacecraft when it is such a massive distance away. Reading this article does make one proud of human achievement. I can only imagine the sadness some NASA personnel must have felt as they witnessed the astonishingly successful Cassini's demise recently, considering it too had lasted for decades and they had to terminate it!
Cheers,
Richard