Updates Voyager mission news

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NASA / NASA JPL:
NASA's Voyager Hits New Region at Solar System Edge

December 05, 2011

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space. Data obtained from Voyager over the last year reveal this new region to be a kind of cosmic purgatory. In it, the wind of charged particles streaming out from our sun has calmed, our solar system's magnetic field is piled up, and higher-energy particles from inside our solar system appear to be leaking out into interstellar space.

"Voyager tells us now that we're in a stagnation region in the outermost layer of the bubble around our solar system," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "Voyager is showing that what is outside is pushing back. We shouldn't have long to wait to find out what the space between stars is really like."

Click on image for details​

In this artist's concept, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space, which scientists are calling the stagnation region.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech​

Although Voyager 1 is about 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from the sun, it is not yet in interstellar space. In the latest data, the direction of the magnetic field lines has not changed, indicating Voyager is still within the heliosphere, the bubble of charged particles the sun blows around itself. The data do not reveal exactly when Voyager 1 will make it past the edge of the solar atmosphere into interstellar space, but suggest it will be in a few months to a few years.

The latest findings, described today at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in San Francisco, come from Voyager's Low Energy Charged Particle instrument, Cosmic Ray Subsystem and Magnetometer.

Scientists previously reported the outward speed of the solar wind had diminished to zero in April 2010, marking the start of the new region. Mission managers rolled the spacecraft several times this spring and summer to help scientists discern whether the solar wind was blowing strongly in another direction. It was not. Voyager 1 is plying the celestial seas in a region similar to Earth's doldrums, where there is very little wind.

During this past year, Voyager's magnetometer also detected a doubling in the intensity of the magnetic field in the stagnation region. Like cars piling up at a clogged freeway off-ramp, the increased intensity of the magnetic field shows that inward pressure from interstellar space is compacting it.

Voyager has been measuring energetic particles that originate from inside and outside our solar system. Until mid-2010, the intensity of particles originating from inside our solar system had been holding steady. But during the past year, the intensity of these energetic particles has been declining, as though they are leaking out into interstellar space. The particles are now half as abundant as they were during the previous five years.

At the same time, Voyager has detected a 100-fold increase in the intensity of high-energy electrons from elsewhere in the galaxy diffusing into our solar system from outside, which is another indication of the approaching boundary.

"We've been using the flow of energetic charged particles at Voyager 1 as a kind of wind sock to estimate the solar wind velocity," said Rob Decker, a Voyager Low-Energy Charged Particle Instrument co-investigator at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. "We've found that the wind speeds are low in this region and gust erratically. For the first time, the wind even blows back at us. We are evidently traveling in completely new territory. Scientists had suggested previously that there might be a stagnation layer, but we weren't sure it existed until now."

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NASA Press Release: RELEASE : 11-402 - NASA's Voyager Hits New Region at Solar System Edge

SPACE.com: NASA Probe Enters Unexplored 'Cosmic Purgatory' at Solar System's Edge

The Planetary Society Blog: From the 2011 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU): Voyager 1 at the edge of the solar system

Universe Today: Voyager 1 Spacecraft Enters New Region of Solar System

 

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NASA / NASA JPL:
Voyager Instrument Cooling After Heater Turned off

January 17, 2012

Voyager Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. -- In order to reduce power consumption, mission managers have turned off a heater on part of NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, dropping the temperature of its ultraviolet spectrometer instrument more than 23 degrees Celsius (41 degrees Fahrenheit). It is now operating at a temperature below minus 79 degrees Celsius (minus 110 degrees Fahrenheit), the coldest temperature that the instrument has ever endured. This heater shut-off is a step in the careful management of the diminishing electrical power so that the Voyager spacecraft can continue to collect and transmit data through 2025.

At the moment, the spectrometer continues to collect and return data. It was originally designed to operate at temperatures as low as minus 35 degrees Celsius (minus 31 degrees Fahrenheit), but it has continued to operate in ever chillier temperatures as heaters around it have been turned off over the last 17 years. It was not known if the spectrometer would continue working, but since 2005, it has been operating at minus 56 degrees Celsius (69 degrees Fahrenheit.) So engineers are encouraged that the instrument has continued to operate, even after the nearby heater was turned off in December. (The spectrometer is likely operating at a temperature somewhat lower than minus 79 degrees Celsius, or minus 110 degrees Fahrenheit, but the temperature detector does not go any lower.)

Scientists and mission managers will continue to monitor the spectrometer's performance. It was very active during Voyager 1's encounters with Jupiter and Saturn, and since then an international team led by scientists in France has been analyzing the spectrometer's data.

This latest heater shut-off was actually part of the nearby infrared spectrometer, which itself has not been operational on Voyager 1 since 1998.

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NASA / NASA JPL:
Data From NASA's Voyager 1 Point to Interstellar Future

June 14, 2012

Data from NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft indicate that the venerable deep-space explorer has encountered a region in space where the intensity of charged particles from beyond our solar system has markedly increased. Voyager scientists looking at this rapid rise draw closer to an inevitable but historic conclusion - that humanity's first emissary to interstellar space is on the edge of our solar system.

"The laws of physics say that someday Voyager will become the first human-made object to enter interstellar space, but we still do not know exactly when that someday will be," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "The latest data indicate that we are clearly in a new region where things are changing more quickly. It is very exciting. We are approaching the solar system's frontier."

The data making the 16-hour-38 minute, 11.1-billion-mile (17.8-billion-kilometer), journey from Voyager 1 to antennas of NASA's Deep Space Network on Earth detail the number of charged particles measured by the two High Energy telescopes aboard the 34-year-old spacecraft. These energetic particles were generated when stars in our cosmic neighborhood went supernova.

"From January 2009 to January 2012, there had been a gradual increase of about 25 percent in the amount of galactic cosmic rays Voyager was encountering," said Stone. "More recently, we have seen very rapid escalation in that part of the energy spectrum. Beginning on May 7, the cosmic ray hits have increased five percent in a week and nine percent in a month."

This marked increase is one of a triad of data sets which need to make significant swings of the needle to indicate a new era in space exploration. The second important measure from the spacecraft's two telescopes is the intensity of energetic particles generated inside the heliosphere, the bubble of charged particles the sun blows around itself. While there has been a slow decline in the measurements of these energetic particles, they have not dropped off precipitously, which could be expected when Voyager breaks through the solar boundary.

The final data set that Voyager scientists believe will reveal a major change is the measurement in the direction of the magnetic field lines surrounding the spacecraft. While Voyager is still within the heliosphere, these field lines run east-west. When it passes into interstellar space, the team expects Voyager will find that the magnetic field lines orient in a more north-south direction. Such analysis will take weeks, and the Voyager team is currently crunching the numbers of its latest data set.

"When the Voyagers launched in 1977, the space age was all of 20 years old," said Stone. "Many of us on the team dreamed of reaching interstellar space, but we really had no way of knowing how long a journey it would be -- or if these two vehicles that we invested so much time and energy in would operate long enough to reach it."

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 and 2 are in good health. Voyager 2 is more than 9.1 billion miles (14.7 billion kilometers) away from the sun. Both are operating as part of the Voyager Interstellar Mission, an extended mission to explore the solar system outside the neighborhood of the outer planets and beyond. NASA's Voyagers are the two most distant active representatives of humanity and its desire to explore.

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Discovery News: Voyager 1 About to Become Interstellar Emissary?

Universe Today: Voyager 1 Breaking Through the Borders of the Solar System

SPACE.com: NASA Voyager 1 Spacecraft Nears Interstellar Space

SpaceRef: Voyager 1 On The Verge of Interstellar Space

Florida Today:

• Voyager approaches edge of solar system #1
  
  
• Voyager approaches edge of solar system #2

 

[Keatah]

Ohh yeh babycakes. This is good science! Voyagers, good schtuff man.
I gotta find my SSTV captures from the live data feeds. Had my old Apple //e tied right into the network and got some pretty crude screen captures. This was in DHR I believe and despite even that they kinda sucked. What would you expect from a home-grown (big-time modded) Micromodem II wired up as a digitizer? But it was way beyond kewl back then. Eventually I will find them, and post them right here for all to reminisce about.

 

[N_Molson]

An incredibly though little space probe. After 34 years, still functionning and actually getting its way out of the Solar System. Amazing.

I somewhat regret they didn't use a Saturn-V to send a similar probe with a much higher escape velocity :lol:

 

[Keatah]

ion thrusters. Or that funky radiation that's slowing down the pioneers. Couldn't we rotate the ship so that radiation stuff is speeding up the craft?

 

[NovaSilisko]

Couldn't we rotate the ship so that radiation stuff is speeding up the craft?

Not sure that would help it, and even then, you gotta have the dish pointed back home.

 

[N_Molson]

ion thrusters

To power them you need a power source, more powerful than RTGs... And past Mars, solar panels are more dead mass than anything. Where Pioneer is, the Sun probably looks like a bright star amongst the others. And a fission reactor well... That would not be a small probe anymore

 

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NASA:
Voyager 1 at the Final Frontier

June 22, 2012

At the edge of the solar system, Voyager 1 is reporting a sharp increase in cosmic rays that could herald the spacecraft's long-awaited entry into interstellar space. Credit: Science@NASA​

For nearly 35 years, NASA’s Voyager 1 probe has been hurtling toward the edge of the solar system, flying through the dark void on a mission unlike anything attempted before. One day, mission controllers hope, Voyager 1 will leave the solar system behind and enter the realm of the stars—interstellar space.

That day may be upon us.

"The latest data from Voyager 1 indicate that we are clearly in a new region where things are changing quickly," says Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. This is very exciting. We are approaching the solar system's final frontier."

The “frontier” he’s referring to is the edge of the heliosphere, a great magnetic bubble that surrounds the sun and planets. The heliosphere is the sun’s own magnetic field inflated to gargantuan proportions by the solar wind. Inside lies the solar system—“home.” Outside lies interstellar space, where no spacecraft has gone before.

A telltale sign of the frontier’s approach is the number of cosmic rays hitting Voyager 1. Cosmic rays are high energy particles such as protons and helium nuclei accelerated to near-light speed by distant supernovas and black holes. The heliosphere protects the solar system from these subatomic bullets, deflecting and slowing many of them before they can reach the inner planets.

As Voyager approaches the frontier, the number of cosmic rays has gone up.

"From January 2009 to January 2012, there had been a gradual increase of about 25 percent in the amount of galactic cosmic rays Voyager was encountering," says Stone.

A sharp increase in cosmic rays could herald Voyager 1's long-awaited breakthrough to interstellar space. Credit: NASA/JPL​

"More recently, however, we have seen a very rapid escalation in that part of the energy spectrum. Beginning on May 7, 2012, the cosmic ray hits have increased five percent in a week and nine percent in a month."

The sharp increase means that Voyager 1 could be on the verge of a breakthrough 18 billion kilometers from Earth.

When Voyager 1 actually exits the heliosphere, researchers expect to see other changes as well. For one thing, energetic particles from the sun will become scarce as the spacecraft leaves the heliosphere behind. Also, the magnetic field around Voyager 1 will change direction from that of the sun’s magnetic field to that of the new and unexplored magnetism of interstellar space.

So far, neither of these things has happened. Nevertheless, the sudden increase in cosmic rays suggests it might not be long.

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SPACE.com: NASA's Voyager 1 Probe Poised to Leave Solar System

 

[dumbo2007]

I wonder what awaits in interstellar space

 

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Discovery News: Voyager 1: The Little Spacecraft That Could

 

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NASA / NASA JPL:
Signs Changing Fast for Voyager at Solar System Edge

August 03, 2012

Two of three key signs of changes expected to occur at the boundary of interstellar space have changed faster than at any other time in the last seven years, according to new data from NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft.

For the last seven years, Voyager 1 has been exploring the outer layer of the bubble of charged particles the sun blows around itself. In one day, on July 28, data from Voyager 1's cosmic ray instrument showed the level of high-energy cosmic rays originating from outside our solar system jumped by five percent. During the last half of that same day, the level of lower-energy particles originating from inside our solar system dropped by half. However, in three days, the levels had recovered to near their previous levels.

A third key sign is the direction of the magnetic field, and scientists are eagerly analyzing the data to see whether that has, indeed, changed direction. Scientists expect that all three of these signs will have changed when Voyager 1 has crossed into interstellar space. A preliminary analysis of the latest magnetic field data is expected to be available in the next month.

"These are thrilling times for the Voyager team as we try to understand the quickening pace of changes as Voyager 1 approaches the edge of interstellar space," said Edward Stone, the Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. "We are certainly in a new region at the edge of the solar system where things are changing rapidly. But we are not yet able to say that Voyager 1 has entered interstellar space."

The levels of high-energy cosmic ray particles have been increasing for years, but more slowly than they are now. The last jump -- of five percent -- took one week in May. The levels of lower-energy particles from inside our solar system have been slowly decreasing for the last two years. Scientists expect that the lower-energy particles will drop close to zero when Voyager 1 finally crosses into interstellar space.

"The increase and the decrease are sharper than we've seen before, but that's also what we said about the May data," Stone said. "The data are changing in ways that we didn't expect, but Voyager has always surprised us with new discoveries."

Voyager 1, which launched on Sept. 5, 1977, is 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from the sun. Voyager 2, which launched on Aug. 20, 1977, is close behind, at 9.3 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) from the sun.

"Our two veteran Voyager spacecraft are hale and healthy as they near the 35th anniversary of their launch," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. "We know they will cross into interstellar space. It's just a question of when."

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NASA / NASA JPL:
Voyager at 35: Break on Through to the Other Side

August 20, 2012

Thirty-five years ago today, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, the first Voyager spacecraft to launch, departed on a journey that would make it the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune and the longest-operating NASA spacecraft ever. Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1, that launched 16 days later on Sept. 5, 1977, are still going strong, hurtling away from our sun. Mission managers are eagerly anticipating the day when they break on through to the other side - the space between stars.

Click on image for details​

Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, from the NASA Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida, propelled into space on a Titan/Centaur rocket.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech​

"Even 35 years on, our rugged Voyager spacecraft are poised to make new discoveries as we eagerly await the signs that we've entered interstellar space," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "Voyager results turned Jupiter and Saturn into full, tumultuous worlds, their moons from faint dots into distinctive places, and gave us our first glimpses of Uranus and Neptune up-close. We can't wait for Voyager to turn our models of the space beyond our sun into the first observations from interstellar space."

Voyager 2 became the longest-operating spacecraft on Aug. 13, 2012, surpassing
Pioneer 6, which launched on Dec. 16, 1965, and sent its last signal back to NASA's Deep Space Network on Dec. 8, 2000. (It operated for 12,758 days.)

Scientists eagerly awaiting the entry of the two Voyagers into interstellar space have recently seen changes from Voyager 1 in two of the three observations that are expected to be different in interstellar space. The prevalence of high-energy particles streaming in from outside our solar system has jumped, and the prevalence of lower-energy particles originating from inside our solar system has briefly dipped, indicating an increasing pace of change in Voyager 1's environment. Voyager team scientists are now analyzing data on the direction of the magnetic field, which they believe will change upon entry into interstellar space.

Notable discoveries by Voyager 2 include the puzzling hexagonal jet stream in Saturn's north polar region, the tipped magnetic poles of Uranus and Neptune, and the geysers on Neptune's frozen moon Triton. Although launched second, Voyager 1 reached Jupiter and Saturn before Voyager 2, first seeing the volcanoes of Jupiter's moon Io, the kinky nature of Saturn's outermost main ring, and the deep, hazy atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan. Voyager 1 also took the mission's last image: the famous solar system family portrait that showed our Earth as a pale blue dot.

Voyager 2 is about 9 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) away from the sun, heading in a southerly direction. Voyager 1 is about 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) away from the sun, heading in a northerly direction. For the last five years, both spacecraft have been exploring the outer layer of the heliosphere, the giant bubble of charged particles the sun blows around itself.

"We continue to listen to Voyager 1 and 2 nearly every day," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The two spacecraft are in great shape for having flown through Jupiter's dangerous radiation environment and having to endure the chill of being so far away from our sun."

Dodd and her team have been carefully managing the use of power from the continually diminishing energy sources on the two spacecraft. They estimate that the two spacecraft will have enough electrical power to continue collecting data and communicating it back to Earth through 2020, and possibly through 2025. While no one really knows how long it will take to get to interstellar space, Voyager scientists think we don't have long to wait. And, besides, the first 35 years have already been a grand ride.

A public lecture about the journey of the twin Voyager spacecraft will be held at JPL on Sept. 4. More information is available at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures_archive.cfm?year=2012&month=9.

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SPACE.com: 35-Year-Old Voyager 2 Probe Is NASA's Longest Mission Ever

SpaceRef: Voyager at 35 - Break on Through to the Other Side

 

[Spacethingy]

Just looked up the "Pale Blue Dot" picture... Haven't had genuine goosebumps for a long time!

 

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Florida Today: 35 years later, Voyager 1 is heading for the stars

 

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SPACE.com: Voyager 1 Spacecraft Farther From Solar System's Edge Than Thought:

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, which launched 35 years ago today (Sept. 5), surprisingly may have far more to travel before it leaves the solar system, researchers say.

How much more is up for debate. The scientists say their new finding suggests much about the outer reaches of the solar system remains unknown.

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NewScientist: Voyager 1: reports of my exit are greatly exaggerated



NASA / NASA JPL:
Cheers, Voyager: 35 Years of Exploration

September 05, 2012

What would a birthday party be without cake, music and toasts? Thirty-five years ago today, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft launched on its mission of exploration. It is now the most distant human-made object and the second-longest operating spacecraft. (Voyager 2 is the longest.) NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., which manages the Voyager spacecraft, held a celebration today.

The celebration included remarks by Charles Elachi, the director of JPL; Ed Stone, the Voyager project scientist; Ann Druyan, the creative director of the interstellar message project inscribed on the Golden Record that each Voyager spacecraft bears; Stephanie Wilson, an astronaut and former JPL employee; local dignitaries and others who have played key roles in operating the spacecraft through the years. A band led by a Voyager engineer also played "Johnny B. Goode," one of the songs from the Golden Record. The Golden Record is a 12-inch, gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth.

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The Planetary Society Blog: A Voyager 1 anniversary mosaic

 

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Universe Today: Voyager 1 May Have Left the Solar System

 

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NASA / NASA JPL:
NASA's Voyager Receives 'Breakthrough Award'

October 08, 2012

On Oct. 4, 2012, representatives from NASA's Voyager mission received a Breakthrough Award from Popular Mechanics at a ceremony in New York. The awards are given for projects that dramatically advance the disciplines of technology, space exploration and other fields. The two Voyager spacecraft have been traveling through our solar system for 35 years and are still sending back data as they draw close to crossing into interstellar space, which is the space between stars.

"We're honored that our veteran Voyager spacecraft are being recognized as innovative," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager's project manager, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "After showing us many firsts at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, they are still sending us first-of-its-kind data about the exotic, far reaches of our solar system. We can't wait to hear from the two Voyagers what it's like in interstellar space."

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And when I saw the news release from NASA / JPL about Voyager, I thought they will confirm what was published by Universe Today, but it's actually 2 different news.

 

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Discovery News: Voyager 1 Detects Weirdness at Solar System Edge