This is quite incredible and a testament to the brilliant minds at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the #Voyager team. Voyager 1 is once again conducting normal science operations for the first time since November 2023. All four instruments – which study plasma waves, magnetic fields, and particles – are returning USABLE science data. Let’s not forget that Voyager 1 & 2 are closing in on 47 YEARS of operations; are NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration's most distant and longest running spacecraft; and in the case of Voyager 1, is now 15 BILLION miles from Earth. Amazing. #NASAJPL #SpaceOperations
I imagine when finally another race find it and figure out we have already been extinct a long time ago...
Voyager 2 passed the heliopause in 2018, as Voyager 1 did in 2013. It had a different distance to go as it flew above the solar plane and flew more slowly without the acceleration from gravitational assists that 1 received. These two spacecraft are a legacy of JPL's Ed Stone, who passed away at age 88 on June 9. I sent to NASA for the official photo packet and received them as a junior high student.
Appreciate the historical contexts in your post. It’s also worth thinking that the scientific instruments aboard the Voyagers are at least a half century old considering when they were first built and tested. And that the late Ed Stone, project scientist for the Voyagers, got to experience those last 47 remarkable years and more!
How often does a real spacecraft make it into a Star Trek movie?
Would love to come tour JPL again! It’s like Disneyland for us nerds!!! Such an amazing place!
My son would love to be part of your team!!!
NASA should build cars. Most everything I have falls apart in a few years time.
Very informative
Mechanical Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
2moLet’s not forget the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) providing their power…