Voyager 2 had a hiccup?

[maw lod qan]

I see they're working to keep Voyager 2 doing what it's done for so many years. I guess power usage is giving them issues, but for what I read they hope they have corrected the problem.

17 hours time lag one way for transmissions.

Powered by radioisotopes. Am I correct in assuming (I'm worried using that word) that's simple terms for nuclear power?

They hope it will continue to work for 4 or 5 more years. They also said it will be another 2300 years till it reaches the inner edge of the Ort Cloud. 30,000 to get past it.

[vlaiv]

12 minutes ago, maw lod qan said:

Powered by radioisotopes. Am I correct in assuming (I'm worried using that word) that's simple terms for nuclear power?

Sort of. Not like in nuclear reactor where we have stable chain reaction (unlike in explosion where it is uncontrolled chain reaction).

Using radioisotopes means using small amount of radioactive material - radioactive enough to keep its own temperature "lukewarm" and then using Seebeck generator or Thermoelectric generator that is a solid state device that works on temperature differential - on one side warm radioisotope on the other - cool empty space (or conducting element exposed to empty space). Heat flow generates electricity.

[maw lod qan]

Thanks for the explanation. My mind still yearns for knowledge. 

[Paul M]

One of the girls is space mad at the moment. She's learning stuff about the Solar System (mostly from me) so I got some Voyager stuff on Youtube after school today. She was amazed how old they are and where they've been. I guess she'd be a lot more amazed if she understood it more fully.

The Grand Tour blew me away when I was a bit older than she is now. It was my era, they were my spacecraft. Most boys didn't have Voyager image centerfolds on their bedroom walls (ok there was one of Cherly Ladd...)

Amazing that their hearts still beat, the Voyagers that is, not Charlie's Angels

[maw lod qan]

I like how Voyager was even worked into the first of the Star Trek movies.

After almost what, three or four century's, V-ger returns home wanting to download everything its learned. It wants to meet its creator.

I would like to hope that someday, if there is intelligent life out there and they stumble across it, they smile and say wow!

 

[TerryMcK]

As long as the Klingons don't use it for target practice as was seen in one of the later Star Trek movies.

[DeanCJ]

22 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

I like how Voyager was even worked into the first of the Star Trek movies.

After almost what, three or four century's, V-ger returns home wanting to download everything its learned. It wants to meet its creator.

I would like to hope that someday, if there is intelligent life out there and they stumble across it, they smile and say wow!

 

I must agree, it would be fantastic if someone found it, especially if they could figure out how to access all the information on the gold disc, I wonder what they would think of the Earth.

[Gina]

I watched a few episodes of Star Trek TNG yesterday.  Enjoyable...

[Padraic M]

Have you seen "The Farthest"? Great documentary about the Voyager missions. Amazing that many of the engineers had never been interviewed about it before! Also amazing that many of them kept working long past retirement age just so that they could stay in touch with the probes. I can understand that!