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The Twin Voyager probes of NASA, which was introduced 47 years ago, complete some scientific instruments to save power and keep its Filius missions running. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 explore both Uncharted Territory in the interstellar room.
The engineers of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, sent a command for Voyager 1 to switch off his cosmic subsystem-subsystem experiment on February 25. In the meantime, on March 24, Voyager 2’s with a low energy supply ghy protected particle instrument will be switched off. As a result, each probe with three functioning scientific instruments is left behind.
When they dismantled weeks in 1977, the Voyager probes wore identical sentences from 10 science instruments.
Over time, the power supply of the probes has gradually decreased. The voyager spacecraft is based on electricity that is generated from the heat of the dilapidated plutonium, and both are estimated to lose 4 watts a year.
“The Voyager has been since the start of Deep Space Rockstars, and we would like to keep it as long as possible for as long as possible,” said Suzanne Dodd, project manager of Voyager at JPL, in an explanation. “But the electrical performance is not running enough. If we do not turn off an instrument for every voyager now, you would probably only have a few months off before we would have to declare the end of the mission. “
Investigation of Uncharted Territory
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, which were originally designed for the fly by the largest planets in our solar system, are today the most distant objects that have been produced by humans.
Voyager 1 is more than 15 billion miles from the earth, while Voyager 2 is over 13 billion miles away, according to NASA. Both probes are the only spaceship that goes beyond the heliosphle, the sun bladder of the magnetic fields and particles that extend far beyond the orbit from Pluto.
Instruments required to collect data during the planet Flybys in the 1970s and 1980s were eliminated after the probes completed their initial goals. However, the Voyager Mission team gave the others to collect data about the heliocha and interstellar space.
Voyager 1 crossed in the interstellar room or the space between the stars in 2012, and Voyager 2 did the same in 2018. The probes took different airways. Voyager 1 drives away from the aircraft, which contains all the planets that circle the sun in our solar system, while Voyager 2 matures under the plane.
Over time, the Voyager team has switched off the instruments individually to ensure that the probes can continue their famous trips. In October, NASA closed the plasma science instrument of Voyager 2. The instrument was developed to measure the number of electrically charged atoms in space and has only given back a limited amount of data in recent years. And the identical instrument of Voyager 1 has been switched off for years because the performance deteriorated over time.
An illustration of Voyager shows some of the antennas and instruments on board of each spacecraft, including those who still operate and those who are switched off. – NASA/JPL-CALTECH
The Cosmic Stray Subsystem, which was switched off on Voyager 1 last week, contained a trio of telescopes that examined and measured cosmic rays, or the highest energetic particles in the universe that are released from the sun and the Milky Way. The Voyager team uses data from the instrument to determine exactly when and where Voyager 1 left the heliosphle and entered the interstellar space.
The particle instrument that Voyager 2 later turns on this month is measured in the solar system and in our galaxy ions, electrons and cosmic rays. The subsystems of the instrument include a telescope and a magnetospheric particle analyzer, which has a 360-degree view thanks to a rotating platform that is driven by a stepper motor. The engine was tested for 500,000 steps of the earth, which would be operated by Voyager 2’s Flyby of Saturn in August 1980. As soon as it is switched off, the engine will have excluded more than 8.5 million steps.
Each probe continues to collect unique data, although the team loses the ability to carry out identical particle measurements in two different locations in the interstellar area, said Linda Spilker, project scientist from Voyager at Jpl.
With identical instruments on board the probes, scientists were able to compare the environments that examined the Voyager and found similarities and differences.
“The Voyager spaceship has far exceeded its original mission to study the external planet,” said Patrick Koehn, program scientist of the Voyager program at NASA headquarters in Washington in a statement. “Every additional data that we have collected since then is not only a valuable bonus science for heliophysics, but also proof of exemplary engineering that has come to the Voyager – from almost 50 years and continues to this day.”
The Voyager examination of the future
With the age of the Voyager, the engineers of the mission are increasingly creative in solving unexpected problems, including communication current failures and other disorders, in huge cosmic distances.
After switching off the two instruments, both Voyager probes should be able to operate for another year before the team has to switch off an additional instrument for each spaceship. The team is already planning to switch off Voyager1S energetic particle instrument and the cosmic ray subsystem from Voyager 2 in 2026.
In the meantime, Voyager 1 and 2 will continue their trips with their plasmaplasma waves that will measure waves within plasma patients in space and magneticometers measuring and measuring changes in magnetic fields that are switched on.
An archive photo shows engineers who work in Florida in Florida on June 17, 1977 in Florida.
“Both voyager will continue to collect unique information about particles such as energetic cosmic rays and interstellar plasma, interstellar magnetic fields and radio waves in the interstellar medium, including all the effects of the sun that spreads to the distances of Voyager,” said Spilker.
NASA experts believe that the probes will be able to save enough power to continue working with at least one scientific instrument in the 2030s, but they are fully aware that all additional challenges that occur could always lead to the end of the line for the Voyager spaceship.
“Every minute of every day, the Voyager explore a region in which no spaceship has been left,” said Spilker. “That also means that every day could be our last. But this day could also bring another interstellar revelation. So we pull out all stops and do what we can to ensure that Voyager 1 and 2 continue their path leaf for the maximum possible time. “
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