Voyager 2 to switch to backup thruster set

http://www.physorg.com ^ | 07 NOV 11 | Provided by JPL/NASA

[Calvin Locke]

If only he were here to keep abreast of what is happening.

I think he would be appalled by the DOE/NASA standoff on providing new batches of Pu-238.

[Verginius Rufus]

One light day would be a bit more than 16 billion miles. Of course for the signal to be sent to Voyager 2 and a response received on earth, it would take somewhat more than 24 hours.

I wonder what command they send--"Now, Voyager"?

[Nowhere Man]

Way to go, Dad! (RIP) He was the program manager for the RTG power supplies on these two spacecraft. Awesome achievement. If only he were here to keep abreast of what is happening.

Cool! Hat's off to your father, he did amazing work for this to keep working to this very day. Reading these stories on space has always fascinated me.

[tayper]

You must be proud. I bet he’s watching from where he is.

[bicyclerepair]

At least space will have a momento of America’s once greatness.

[Errant]

At least [for a time] space will have a momento of America’s once greatness.

[aruanan]

At least [for a time] space will have a momento of America’s once greatness.

memento

[COBOL2Java]

I wonder what command they send--"Now, Voyager"?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks, everybody, for your very kind comments. Dad worked on some amazing projects in his career, but I think this was his absolute favorite. I was in engineering school at the time and was lucky enough for him to share a lot of information with me when they were building and testing the RTGs. I remember Dad showing me videos of the casks used to transport the Plutonium fuel being smashed to verify they would survive a take-off crash of the launch vehicle. My sisters went to the launches with Mom & Dad, but I was unable to make it. One of my biggest regrets is not being able to make it to the launches (I was working in South America at the time).

[billorites]

Wow. 1977 was the year I bought my first new car.

I'm pretty sure it's gone to Rabbit Heaven.

[rbmillerjr]

Do you have any good links to articles about that Chinese capability?

[Colonel_Flagg]

Uhh... this rocks. Thank you!

[Colonel_Flagg]

That might be a bit too much of a wide shot. :)

[Colonel_Flagg]

Very useful indeed. I will check it out. Thank you!

[zeugma]

This is what the solar system looks like from the Voyager 1 spacecraft today. The outer blue ring is Pluto's orbit. The innermost red ring that you can barely see around the glare of the sun is Earth's orbit.

This is the view from Voyager 2

Both images taken from Celestia, the universe simulator.

[Red Badger]

Is the solar system at a right angle to the plane of the galaxy?

Are the Voyager’s heading into or out of the galactic plane or center?.........

[zeugma]

The spacecraft are heading out at angles to the plane of the solar system. I think it’s absolutely astounding that both these craft are still taking and executing orders.

[zeugma]

I just noticed the gist of your question. I don’t know where they are in relation to the plane of the galaxy itself. I think Celestia will display galactic coordinates. I’ll have to look at it.

[Red Badger]

Kind of like The Last Sentinel........

[Lancey Howard]

I understand that. What is curious to me is that the one named “Voyager 1” was launched AFTER the one named “Voyager 2”. Maybe V-1 was supposed to go earlier but had its launch delayed?