40 years of flight of the Voyagers. Soon they will shut up forever



    40 years ago, Earth scientists sent two interplanetary stations on a distant flight, which were called Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 . These stations are identical, only the name and launch time distinguishes them.

    The Voyager 2 station was launched on August 20, 1977, its twin on September 5 of the same year. Until the fortieth anniversary of Voyager 1, it remains to wait a couple more weeks. There is no confusion with the numbering of the probes, since the experts initially planned that Voyager 1 should overtake its counterpart. And so it happened: the probe with the number one could break forward between the orbit of Mars and the asteroid belt.

    Both stations went on different routes, which allowed them to go down in history. Voyager 1 is currently the most remote object created by man from our planet. And Voyager 2 is the first and only so far probe that could pay a visit to four planets-gas giants of the solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

    Voyager 1 is not only the most man-made object from Earth, but also the fastest. Its speed is 17 km / s. Now it is located at a distance of 139 astronomical units, which is 21 billion kilometers. The flight data of both Voyagers is constantly updated on the special page of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.



    The boundaries of the solar system


    They say that Voyager 1 left the borders of the solar system. This has happened more than once. Scientists have announced several times that the probe "has already definitely" left our system, after which it turns out that this is still not the case.


    The comic xkcd joked about the difficulty of defining space records. The number of times that Voyager 1 left the boundaries of the solar system, xkcd: 1189

    The boundaries were groped in 2012. At this time, the device entered the heliopause zone, where the pressure of the solar wind balances the pressure of the interstellar medium. The heliosphere itself is a region of near-solar space where the solar wind still prevails over the “galactic wind” - a stream of particles of the interstellar medium.

    In 2013, it was reported several times that Voyager 1 went beyond the influence of the Sun, and in September of that yearconfirmation received .


    Thus, the probe still ended up in interstellar space. Scientists finally became convinced of this only in 2014. Now the plasma that surrounds the probe is about 40 times denser than it was within the solar system.

    It should be noted that scientists, speaking of the fact that the device left the system, are talking specifically about the heliosphere. If we talk about going beyond the orbit of celestial bodies that revolve around the Sun, then this has not happened yet. The probe has not yet reached the orbit of Sedna, a trans-Neptune object, not to mention the Oort cloud. This cloud, "populated" by long-period comets, is considered the outer edge of the solar system.

    Speed ​​dial


    In order for the devices to gain sufficient speed, they were launched using a heavy Titan 3E rocket with an additional fourth stage. The first and second stage was filled with nitrogen tetroxide and aerosin. In the third stage, liquid hydrogen and oxygen were used, and in the fourth stage, solid fuel was already used.

    Probe Features


    Scientists have taken into account that a few years after the launch, the Voyagers will not have enough energy from solar panels to operate all systems. Therefore, each of the devices is equipped immediately with three radioisotope thermoelectric generators, the power of which at the time of launch was 470 watts. Now, due to half-life, power is already lower - about 300 watts. Over time, it will fall. It is believed that after a few years the energy received by the probes will not be enough for normal operation, so that the systems will continue their journey in radio silence.

    The design of the devices also includes three types of computers. The first serves to control scientific instruments and devices, the second - controls flights, the third - command. To backup computers of each type, two are installed.


    Work on the creation of Voyager continues (July 9, 1976), NASA

    Earth News


    40 years ago, the designers who developed the probes wanted to get in touch with an alien mind. The authors of the project put news from earthlings into the devices.

    The main thing that the scientists wanted to indicate in the message was the location of the Earth. This was done by creating a specific map, where the main landmarks are pulsars. There are fourteen in all, and each has unique characteristics. An alien civilization that can intercept the Voyager (any of them) should be aware of the characteristics of pulsars. Each of them has existed for millions of years, so this is a fairly reliable lighthouse that will work for a very long time. An alien mind will be able to understand where the Earth is and in a million years. Perhaps some pulsars may exist for several billion years. All of them rotate quickly, plus they have a unique "profile" of electromagnetic radiation pulses. The delay between pulses is also unique. As a result, the pulsars decided to consider "space beacons",



    The length of the lines that connect each pulsar to the Sun (this is the central element on the map) shows how far each of them is from our star. The speed of rotation of the pulsars is recorded in binary code, so that all data was reduced to only 12 characters. In addition to the location of the Earth, the map can provide an understanding of when the probe was launched.

    The information in question was recorded on gold plates. The author of the card is Frank Drake. His daughter, Katherine Denning, said that scientists during the preparation of the map and the manufacture of gold plates did not really argue about the possible risks of contact with the "brothers in mind." Now, by the way, Denning is studying the pros and cons of sending messages to extraterrestrial civilizations. What is characteristic, now more and more specialists, not to mention ordinary people, think that one should not try to be heard - it is better, as before, to just listen to space in search of “relatives”.



    "Voyagers" - a threat to the Earth?


    As mentioned above, more and more people are now inclined to the idea that the Voyagers are a threat to humanity because they carry information about the exact location of the Earth. These data can be used by an alien mind, for example, to attack our planet.

    Why did scientists nevertheless decide to send a card and a gold plate, which tells in detail about life on Earth and humanity? Francis Drake says that when the Voyagers were launched, scientists did not even know if other planets exist outside the solar system. More precisely, most experts believed that of course they exist. But there was no evidence for this.

    image

    Now, thanks to the Kepler telescope, scientists already know that exoplanets are the rule for the universe, and not an exception, and there are many earth-like planets. As a result, it may well be that life in space is also a rule, not an exception.

    But since we don’t even imagine what could be “on the other side of the cosmos”, sending any data about ourselves can be an extremely rash act. “In those years, almost all the people with whom I spoke were optimists who believed that if aliens exist, then they are most likely friendly,” Drake said recently. “No one thought that what we do can be simply dangerous.”

    Nevertheless, the same Drake believes that the likelihood that the cards on board the probes get to extraterrestrial civilization is extremely small. “They are moving at a speed of more than 10 kilometers per second. At this speed, the devices can reach the nearest star only after half a million years, then another half million will be needed in order to arrive at another star. And it is clear that they are not directed to a particular luminary. They just fly where they were sent. ”


    Even if aliens discover the Earth, the scientist believes, then by radio noise and other signs of civilization on the planet. But the probes, most likely, will fly in the silence of the Universe forever, undetected for millions of years.

    While the devices continue to work, which means that they still send to the Earth the most valuable data about what constitutes deep space.

    So the Voyagers are still good, not evil. They have brought great benefits, and harming the message of humanity is hardly possible.

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