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#1 2020-11-04 03:33:25
- Tmcom
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- Registered: 2017-03-02
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Voyager 2, is alive and well
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-c … twork-dish
They are repairing the dish at Canberra, Australia, but have sent a signal with a reply.
And the rendering software on this site is pretty cool, or you can move Voyager 2, in and out and explore all our planets, etc.
Here is a screenshot of Mars, sigh.
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#2 2020-11-04 09:18:24
- tahanson43206
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
For tmcom re #1
Thank you for your post, with that neat image, and for the link to the NASA announcement.
I appreciated the chance to catch up on what I gather is a major upgrade to the Canberra dish and associated hardware.
Calla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov2020-207
Last Updated: Nov. 3, 2020
Editor: Tony Greicius
Tags: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Moon to Mars, SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation), Voyager
It is good to know that the upgraded antenna will be fully online in time for the Perseverance landing at Mars in 2021.
(th)
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#3 2020-11-04 21:55:10
- Tmcom
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- Registered: 2017-03-02
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
For tmcom re #1
Thank you for your post, with that neat image, and for the link to the NASA announcement.
I appreciated the chance to catch up on what I gather is a major upgrade to the Canberra dish and associated hardware.
Calla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov2020-207
Last Updated: Nov. 3, 2020
Editor: Tony Greicius
Tags: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Moon to Mars, SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation), VoyagerIt is good to know that the upgraded antenna will be fully online in time for the Perseverance landing at Mars in 2021.
(th)
No probs, and you need to click on the planet or sub planet twice with the mouse to see it up close, (the real life rendering of the Pluto probe is pretty impressive, you can move around it, etc).
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#4 2020-11-05 20:17:58
- SpaceNut
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
With out the deep space communications dish we would not be able to get all of this information form the many probes that we are communicating with.
Hopefully we will not make these just one time visits so as to learn more about what we already know from these probes that have already gotten from them.
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#5 2020-11-07 03:02:57
- Tmcom
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
With out the deep space communications dish we would not be able to get all of this information form the many probes that we are communicating with.
Hopefully we will not make these just one time visits so as to learn more about what we already know from these probes that have already gotten from them.
Agreed. 
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#6 2022-09-24 03:18:49
- Mars_B4_Moon
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
NASA's iconic Voyager 1 marks 45 years in space
https://www.space.com/voyager-1-45-year … nniversary
"Today, as both Voyagers explore interstellar space, they are providing humanity with observations of uncharted territory," Linda Spilker, Voyager's deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, said in a statement (opens in new tab).
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#7 2022-09-24 19:50:35
- SpaceNut
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
They finally figured out the data corruption problem and it was a defective computer that somehow got reactivated. They switched back to the other unit and it's working fine once more.
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#8 2023-08-04 16:52:37
- Mars_B4_Moon
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
NASA has reestablished full communications with Voyager 2.
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#9 2024-03-06 11:12:05
- Mars_B4_Moon
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is talking nonsense. Its friends on Earth are worried
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#10 2024-03-06 14:15:56
- Calliban
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- Registered: 2019-08-18
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
15 billion miles distant, is an impressive 161AU. Almost 5x further than Neptune!
"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."
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#11 2024-03-08 13:01:24
- tahanson43206
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
This may be the same report that Mars_B4_Moon found, in post #9
It was sent to me by a relative...
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is talking nonsense. Its friends on Earth are worried
Voyager 1 has been traveling through space since 1977, and some scientists hoped it could keep sending back science data for 50 years. But a serious glitch has put that milestone in jeopardy.
Read in NPR: https://apple.news/AXEuAysTcTHW6V50cDrF8Bw
***
What I found of particular interest is that someone at NASA is thinking about asking for funding of another probe to head out to deep space. The new design would travel faster, and (hopefully) have more robust self-healing capability.
Yup! The links are to the same story. It is worth reading whichever link you follow.
(th)
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#12 2024-03-14 20:49:38
- tahanson43206
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
Update .... I found a report that engineers were able to persuade Voyager (?) to dump it's memory.
Someone was still able to read the dump.
There is a theory that one of three sections of one of the computers may be failing, and possibly that system can be bypassed.
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#13 2026-08-08 07:23:07
- tahanson43206
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Re: Voyager 2, is alive and well
This post includes a detailed report on Voyager II by CNN's Ashley Strickland:
Science
SpaceAshley Strickland
Aug 6, 2026Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1, launched in 1977. NASA
An ambitious effort to boost an aging probe on its journey through the uncharted territory of interstellar space seems to have found success.
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have spent the last few months implementing what they nicknamed the “Big Bang” fix to buy the historic Voyager 2 spacecraft more time to continue its science mission.
Voyager 2 is roughly 21.35 billion kilometers (13 billion miles) away from Earth, while its twin, Voyager 1, is about 25.40 billion kilometers (16 billion miles) away.
Launched weeks apart in 1977 to embark on revolutionary flybys of planets in our solar system, they are the farthest active spacecraft from Earth, traveling beyond the heliosphere, the sun’s bubble of magnetic fields and particles that extends well beyond the orbit of Pluto.
But engineers have had to get creative to keep the probes operating far longer than their expected lifespan of five years, as each spacecraft’s power supply has dwindled over time.
Both Voyager probes run on radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or devices that convert the heat provided by decaying plutonium into electricity. They lose an estimated 4 watts of power per year.
Throughout the years, the Voyager team has been forced to shut down systems, devices and instruments — and Voyager 2 was slated to power down another science instrument before the end of the year.
To avoid losing valuable insights from Voyager 2’s unique position in space, engineers sent commands to the spacecraft to perform a simultaneous swap. This order directed the spacecraft to turn off some powered devices while switching on others that draw less power — while maintaining the crucial balance of keeping the spacecraft warm enough to keep functioning and capturing scientific data.
Now, Voyager 2 has enough power to keep its three remaining instruments operating for an extra year, according to NASA.
“This was a team effort, the culmination of a year of work, with almost every team member contributing,” said Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager’s mission manager at JPL, in an email. “Each of us love these spacecraft, and give generously of our time off-hours and weekends, so the feeling of realizing that we had extended the life of the spacecraft and science return by 2 years or more was fulfillment and delight — it had been a difficult task and our hard work was rewarded.”
A Big Bang to save Voyager 1’s mission is next on the team’s list.
A big win for Voyager 2
Given the age and distance of the Voyager probes, every step that engineers take to care for them is carefully calculated.
Turning off instruments and heaters in the frigid temperatures of interstellar space risks chilling the probes beyond repair. If the fuel lines freeze, the spacecraft would lose the ability to keep their antennae pointed toward Earth, and NASA teams would lose contact with them — effectively ending the missions.
The Voyager team took steps in May and June to test that the Big Bang wouldn’t draw more power than expected or lower temperatures beyond acceptable limits.
It takes nearly 20 hours for a command to reach Voyager 2, and then the team has to wait the same amount of time to receive a response before moving forward.
The Big Bang fix was implemented on July 9, turning off two dedicated heaters and a digital tape recorder that was used solely for the residual heat it supplied. Two different heaters and another device that supplies residual heat were switched on — but they draw less power than the devices that were previously working.
After ensuring that there were no surprises, engineers updated Voyager 2’s onboard software. Now, if the spacecraft ever goes into safe mode, when operations pause if Voyager detects an anomaly, the lower-powered devices will be included in the default safe state, according to a JPL spokesperson.
Badaruddin felt reassured that the fix would work after the initial test to make sure it didn’t draw too much power successfully occurred on May 13.
“We had done so much work over the last year and I was very close to the analysis and our predictions, so seeing the first test results be so close to our expectations gave me confidence and excitement and, well, joy,” he said.
Voyager 1’s next chapter
The test sequences built and used for Voyager 2 are very similar to what will be deployed on its twin probe. Voyager 1 is farther from Earth, so it takes nearly 24 hours for a signal to reach it.
The team carried out a successful power test on Voyager 1 at the end of July. Next is the thermal test to ensure that the space probe can remain warm enough, scheduled for the end of August but subject to change based on data analysis.
Conserving power on Voyager 1 could not only extend the probe’s mission, it might also enable the team to restart the spacecraft’s Low-energy Charged Particles experiment, an instrument that was shut down to save power in April.
Related article
This artist's concept depicts NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft entering interstellar space, or the space between stars. Interstellar space is dominated by the plasma, or ionized gas, that was ejected by the death of nearby giant stars millions of years ago. The environment inside our solar bubble is dominated by the plasma exhausted by our sun, known as the solar wind.This artist's concept depicts NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft entering interstellar space, or the space between stars. Interstellar space is dominated by the plasma, or ionized gas, that was ejected by the death of nearby giant stars millions of years ago. The environment inside our solar bubble is dominated by the plasma exhausted by our sun, known as the solar wind.
NASA/JPL-CaltechVoyager 1 will reach one light-day from Earth in 2026. Here’s what that means
5 min read
For nearly half a century, the instrument measured charged particles like ions, electrons and cosmic rays coming from our solar system as well as the Milky Way galaxy more broadly. The measurements have provided unprecedented data about regions of varying density beyond the heliosphere.The subsystems of the instrument include a telescope and magnetospheric particle analyzer, which have a 360-degree view, thanks to a rotating platform powered by a stepper motor. That tiny motor, which only uses 0.5 watts, has remained turned on — which means the instrument itself could be revived in the future if there is enough power.
“In the case of Voyager 2, the results matched our predictions so closely that we were able to complete the entire process without altering our plans,” Badaruddin said. “Hopefully, this will be the case with Voyager 1. That said, I will mention that although the spacecraft were built to the same design, we have observed differences between them.”
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