Back in 1977, when we still believed in the power of science (science!) and technology to help us before we realised that human nature was always going to be stronger and dumber than we could possibly imagine, NASA launched two probes off into the solar system.
They were, in order of launch, Voyager 2 and Voyager 1 – because launching them in order would have been nuts, obviously – and they are among the greatest things humankind have ever created.
Actual genuine Voyager footage of Jupiter. Still amazing.
Why so? Well, first up they were the first good quality close up pictures we got from Jupiter and Saturn, and then Voyager 2 took the first – and to date, only – pictures of Neptune and Uranus.
Both probes plunged through the outer solar systems and now Voyager 1 is the furthest human-made object from Earth, currently coming up on nineteen billion kilometres away. The tech on board was cutting edge for the early 70s, with the onboard CPU holding a whopping 69.63 kilobytes of memory. For comparison, the picture at the top of this story is a bit over 220kb. So… yeah.
And yet when NASA attempted to fire up Voyager 1’s thrusters – last used thirty seven years ago when popping by Saturn – they totally worked.
Looking for some hot stuff? I fired backup thrusters for the first time in 37 years, and they worked like a champ. This could extend my life 2-3 years. https://t.co/N0pF3nvOkO pic.twitter.com/V35vMbrHCr
— NASA Voyager (@NASAVoyager) December 2, 2017
Short version of nerdy story: the tiny thrusters NASA have periodically used to orient the craft so it can pick up messages from Earth have been on the wane over time, and since Voyager 1 is travelling at about 61,195 kmph it’s a challenge to get a mechanic game to pop out to service it.
So NASA decided to give the other thrusters – which had never been used for these delicate manoeuvres – a bash, and it worked a treat despite forcing them to learn a long-obsolete programming language and the fact that every command takes 19 hours and 35 minutes to get from Earth to Voyager, and then the same amount of time for the craft to let NASA know whether it all worked.
Bye!
But more importantly, this extends the operational life of the craft for another few years – which is good since sometime between 2025 and 2030 the onboard power will run out and we’ll never hear anything from her again.
However, there’s one great thing: both Voyagers hold the Golden Record, an LP of Sounds from Earth and digitally-encoded pictures, with instructions on how to play the thing and directions to where we are relative to the Sun and where the Sun is relative to nearby pulsars.
So we should get a visit from an invasion force at some point, hopefully. And not before time.
“Send More Chuck Berry”