Communication with Voyager 2 temporarily lost (hopefully)

[KrisZ]

It has an RTG.

It’s not closer. What kind of weirdness is that?

It’s communicating with us from another dimension. It never made it outside our solar system

 

[Skippy722]

How is it still powered up? I thought it was too far from the sun to get any meaningful charge.
Maybe it’s closer then they say it is?

Each Voyager probe has 3 RTG’s which is essentially a nuclear battery powered by Plutonium 238. Combined they supplied about 470 watts of power at launch, power halves every ~88 years.

 

[KrisZ]

Each Voyager probe has 3 RTG’s which is essentially a nuclear battery powered by Plutonium 238. Combined they supplied about 470 watts of power at launch, power halves every ~88 years.

I didn't know this. I though it relied on normal batteries and solar panels.

However what's fascinating to me is that the signals it sends to us are only about 20W worth of power. That is an extremely weak signal. I'm surprised we can actually pick it up here on earth.

 

[Skippy722]

I didn't know this. I though it relied on normal batteries and solar panels.

However what's fascinating to me is that the signals it sends to us are only about 20W worth of power. That is an extremely weak signal. I'm surprised we can actually pick it up here on earth.

Right now Madrid is connected to Voyager 1, receiving at 1.0 x 10-22 kW. Or about a billionth of a billionth of a watt once it makes its way to Earth, with a round trip time of 1.85 DAYS and a bit rate of 160 b/sec. It’s incredible that we can still communicate with those probes reliably.

 

[alarmguy]

I read today that they received some signals from the craft. So I dont think it will be a lost cause by any means, though I do think a little unsettling ... they say worst case OCT ... pretty amazing for 1970's technology I would say!
NASA Hears "heartbeat"

 

[Astro14]

I didn't know this. I though it relied on normal batteries and solar panels.

However what's fascinating to me is that the signals it sends to us are only about 20W worth of power. That is an extremely weak signal. I'm surprised we can actually pick it up here on earth.

Welcome to astrophysics.

10^-22 watt signals? Yep…radio astronomy has always been dealing with those kind of numbers.

A fly hitting a screen on a summer day generates more observed energy than the whole of radio astronomy any given year…

 

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

Is this the new sub?

 

[Astro14]

Is this the new sub?

You’re not serious, are you? Even if you’re scientifically, uh, challenged, there’s Google to help you out, or, perhaps, NASA.

The Voyager probes were launched over 45 years ago. They’re still working well past design life, and have reached truly interstellar space, beyond the heliopause. The first man made objects to do so.

They are a triumph of engineering and science. They’ve exceeded every design goal and are returning the first data from that far out.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/index.html

 

[MolaKule]

Apparently we're now communicating with it:

https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/..._Ax0fSucqTEiCgK0NRZjmnc7cwCqN4OAsL_qeBAGMESJ4