Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years

This is so cool!

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.p...ly201 71201-1

"If you tried to start a car that's been sitting in a garage for decades, you might not expect the engine to respond. But a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up Wednesday after 37 years without use..."

On Friday, 1 December 2017 20:41:25 UTC-5, palsing wrote:
This is so cool!

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.p...ly201 71201-1

"If you tried to start a car that's been sitting in a garage for decades, you might not expect the engine to respond. But a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up Wednesday after 37 years without use..."

Thank goodness for miracle of radio-thermal generators. Still providing 300 watts of power after all these years.

On Friday, December 1, 2017 at 6:43:18 PM UTC-8, RichA wrote:
On Friday, 1 December 2017 20:41:25 UTC-5, palsing wrote:
This is so cool!

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.p...ly201 71201-1

"If you tried to start a car that's been sitting in a garage for decades, you might not expect the engine to respond. But a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up Wednesday after 37 years without use..."

Thank goodness for miracle of radio-thermal generators. Still providing 300 watts of power after all these years.

The entire project is still mind-boggling, and still doing real science.

On Fri, 1 Dec 2017 17:41:21 -0800 (PST), palsing
wrote:
This is so cool!


https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.p...ource=iContact
&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content =daily20171201-1

"If you tried to start a car that's been sitting in a garage for
decades, you might not expect the engine to respond. But a set of
thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up
Wednesday after 37 years without use..."

Otoh, Voyager hasn't been subjected to the same amount of weathering
that a car sitting unused in a garage for 37 years would have been.
It's even doubtful whether the garage itself would have survived for
so long without maintenance...

On Fri, 1 Dec 2017 18:43:15 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

On Friday, 1 December 2017 20:41:25 UTC-5, palsing wrote:
This is so cool!

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.p...ly201 71201-1

"If you tried to start a car that's been sitting in a garage for decades, you might not expect the engine to respond. But a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up Wednesday after 37 years without use..."

Thank goodness for miracle of radio-thermal generators. Still providing 300 watts of power after all these years.

They're a great way to power deep space probes. But they weren't the
remarkable thing here. The remarkable thing was that moving parts
actually moved after decades in a vacuum. That's a very tricky thing
to manage.

On Saturday, 2 December 2017 17:34:12 UTC+1, Chris L Peterson wrote:

They're a great way to power deep space probes. But they weren't the
remarkable thing here. The remarkable thing was that moving parts
actually moved after decades in a vacuum. That's a very tricky thing
to manage.

Imagine the problems of firing their thrusters, as they finally reach their nearest star. The remaining female survivors walk unsteadily down the gangplank, after countless centuries of travelling. Only to be 'fumbled' by our very own Stumpy, who lives on quite another planet from the rest of us.

"Take me to your leader?"

Eeny, meany, miny, no...?

Which among our infinitely corrupt, tribal warlords is remotely qualified to make that claim?

It is no wonder THEY are waiting so damned long before making formal contact!

On Friday, December 1, 2017 at 8:41:25 PM UTC-5, palsing wrote:

This is so cool!

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.p...ly201 71201-1

"If you tried to start a car that's been sitting in a garage for decades, you might not expect the engine to respond. But a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up Wednesday after 37 years without use..."

So the spacecraft stayed aligned properly for the last 37 years,
without using any thrusters to correct the alignment? If not
aligned properly the antenna won't be able to communicate with
the Earth.

On Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 7:42:23 PM UTC-7, Scott M. Kozel wrote:

So the spacecraft stayed aligned properly for the last 37 years,
without using any thrusters to correct the alignment?

No, it used a different kind of thruster - it was decided to use these instead to
further prolong its life.

John Savard

On Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 7:42:23 PM UTC-7, Scott M. Kozel wrote:

So the spacecraft stayed aligned properly for the last 37 years,
without using any thrusters to correct the alignment?

No, it used a different kind of thruster - it was decided to use these instead to
further prolong its life.

John Savard

On Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 6:42:23 PM UTC-8, Scott M. Kozel wrote:
On Friday, December 1, 2017 at 8:41:25 PM UTC-5, palsing wrote:

This is so cool!

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.p...ly201 71201-1

"If you tried to start a car that's been sitting in a garage for decades, you might not expect the engine to respond. But a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up Wednesday after 37 years without use..."

So the spacecraft stayed aligned properly for the last 37 years,
without using any thrusters to correct the alignment? If not
aligned properly the antenna won't be able to communicate with
the Earth.

If you had actually read the supplied link you would have already known this...

"Since 2014, engineers have noticed that the thrusters Voyager 1 had been using to orient the spacecraft, called "attitude control thrusters," have been degrading. Over time, the thrusters require more puffs to give off the same amount of energy. At 13 billion miles from Earth, there's no mechanic shop nearby to get a tune-up."