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Posted by Load \"*\",8,1 on August 21, 2006, 4:13 pm
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That is amazing!
Now just about 40,000 more years before it reaches another star system.
--
"Life is easy with eyes closed"
__________________
> http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=1150
>
> Voyager 1: 'The Spacecraft That Could' Hits New Milestone
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory
> August 15, 2006
>
> Voyager 1, already the most distant human-made object in the cosmos,
> reaches 100 astronomical units from the sun on Tuesday, August 15 at
> 5:13 p.m. Eastern time (2:13 p.m. Pacific time). That means the
> spacecraft, which launched nearly three decades ago, will be 100 times
> more distant from the sun than Earth is.
>
> In more common terms, Voyager 1 will be about 15 billion kilometers
> (9.3
> billion miles) from the sun. Dr. Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist
> and
> the former director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
> Calif., says the Voyager team always predicted that the spacecraft
> would
> have enough power to last this long.
>
> "But what you can't predict is that the spacecraft isnt going to wear
> out or break. Voyager 1 and 2 run 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
> but
> they were built to last," Stone said. The spacecraft have really been
> put to the test during their nearly 30 years of space travel, flying by
> the outer planets, and enduring such challenges as the harsh radiation
> environment around Jupiter.
>
> The spacecraft are traveling at a distance where the sun is but a
> bright
> point of light and solar energy is not an option for electrical power.
> The Voyagers owe their longevity to their nuclear power sources, called
> radioisotope thermoelectric generators, provided by the Department of
> Energy.
>
> Voyager 1 is now at the outer edge of our solar system, in an area
> called the heliosheath, the zone where the sun's influence wanes. This
> region is the outer layer of the 'bubble' surrounding the sun, and no
> one knows how big this bubble actually is. Voyager 1 is literally
> venturing into the great unknown and is approaching interstellar space.
> Traveling at a speed of about one million miles per day, Voyager 1
> could
> cross into interstellar space within the next 10 years.
>
> "Interstellar space is filled with material ejected by explosions of
> nearby stars," Stone said. "Voyager 1 will be the first human-made
> object to cross into it."
>
> Voyager Project Manager Ed Massey of JPL says the survival of the two
> spacecraft is a credit to the robust design of the spacecraft, and to
> the flight team, which is now down to only 10 people. "But its these 10
> people who are keeping these spacecraft alive. Theyre very dedicated.
> This is sort of a testament to them, that we could get all this done."
>
> Between them, the two Voyagers have explored Jupiter, Uranus, Saturn
> and
> Neptune, along with dozens of their moons. In addition, they have been
> studying the solar wind, the stream of charged particles spewing from
> the sun at nearly a million miles per hour.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Media contact: Jane Platt/JPL (818) 354-0880
>
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