Voyager 2 has now also entered interstellar space

[gary]

In a press release today from the University of Iowa, the report :-



More here :-
https://now.uiowa.edu/2019/11/voyager-2-reaches-interstellar-space

[cannon_gray]

How far will Voyager 2 fly so we stop receiving data from it? We don’t have a communication array powerful enough to send or receive a clear, coherent, signal beyond the solar system, right? If I remember correctly, all signals currently being sent from Earth fully degrade into background noise after like a LY or two.

[tonybarry]

Wiki is your friend.

The main issue with communication with Voyager is power available on the spacecraft to operate instruments or power the comms system. The radio-isotope thermal generator does not have an infinite lifespan, mainly due to degradation of the thermocouples rather than half-life of the plutonium core, and is expected to be unable to power any one science instrument by about 2025.

The comms system has a 22.4W transmitter which is the highest load (but runs intermittently). The DSN uses a 400kW transmitter to communicate with Voyager on S-band.

Voyager 2 should be more than 150 AU from the sun by 2025. Thats about 0.00237 light years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_2#Terminations_and_future_o f_the_probe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_program#Power
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_artificial_objects_leaving_ the_Solar_System#Speed_and_distance _from_the_Sun
http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsndocs/810-005/101/101E.pdf

Regards,
Tony Barry
WSAAG