NASA Shuts Off Instrument on Voyager 1 to Keep Spacecraft Operating
2026-04-18 22:41 UTC
Replies (21)
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@GreenShimada@lemmy.world 2026-04-18 23:09
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@gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 2026-04-18 23:56
RTGs are subject to the issue of half-life - this is a consequence of that type of power source. Though, let’s be honest: we do not have any other sort of power generation technology that would be viable for literal decades on an interstellar space probe. And we definitely didn’t have a better alternative when they were launched.
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@TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 2026-04-19 00:39
NASA’s Voyager engineers are like the final evolution of your uncle that keeps his 1974 Chevy C/K running at 400,000 miles. It’s the same autism across an ocean of resources.
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@popekingjoe@lemmy.world 2026-04-19 00:58
What a badass little craft to have kept operating for so long. 🫡
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@Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 2026-04-19 01:14
When is the next conjunction of planets that enabled the Voyager missions happening and are we preparing for it?
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@HubertManne@piefed.social 2026-04-19 01:22
would be great to have some solar that would power a beacon or something if it ever entered another star system.
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@rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 2026-04-19 01:50
which would shut down components on its own to safeguard the probe, requiring recovery by the flight team — a lengthy process that carries its own risks. Uhhh… how the fuck are you planning on recovering it?
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@troglodytis@lemmy.world 2026-04-19 02:09
Only delusion separates us from the same
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@SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 2026-04-19 02:11
It is amazing they can detect and communicate to something with such a weak signal so far away.
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@PattyMcB@lemmy.world 2026-04-19 02:43
Why can’t we be as forward thinking as the people who created the voyager probes?
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@titanicx@lemmy.zip 2026-04-19 03:03
The clock ran out years ago. They have been building bridges to New clocks for decades. But yes. Soon it will die, only propelled forward into nothingness and loneliness forever.
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@Zacryon@feddit.org 2026-04-19 04:36
New Hobby unlocked: Skyfishing
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@FosterMolasses@leminal.space 2026-04-19 06:32
Thanks for the uplifting news!
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@A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 2026-04-19 08:59
Here are Images Voyager Took. I have no idea how to sort them by recency; I’m guessing it’s not sending such expensive data anymore, but what are the most recent (and furthest) images?
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@WizardofFrobozz@lemmy.ca 2026-04-19 09:11
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@HeroicBillyBishop@lemmy.ca 2026-04-19 10:43
This is so fuking cool I am filled with pride that we collectively made something that will likely out live our sun, and we continue to find ingenious ways to keep it going and going What a cool time to be alive
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@alex_riv@lemmy.org 2026-04-19 13:52
the engineering decisions made in the 70s that are still paying off today are remarkable. they built in redundancy and workarounds that 50 years later are still being used. the fact that a team on earth can still send commands and receive data from something 24 billion km away, using 1970s hardware that was never designed to last this long, is genuinely one of the most impressive things humanity has ever done. almost poetry that the last act of a dying spacecraft is to carefully power down to preserve the rest.
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@veniasilente@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-04-19 16:00
One would think we should just ship it some upgraded parts on a door dash rocket, since we presumably have far better technology now. No? No? Oh well I guess the USA is not that great then,
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@elucubra@sopuli.xyz 2026-04-19 17:06
Only 49 years! Enshitificashion.
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@FaceDeer@fedia.io 2026-04-18 23:43
Tick tock, unfortunately.
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@kamen@lemmy.world 2026-04-19 21:32
It’s quite a feat of engineering to have something run this long - and without having physical access to it.