Voyager 2 develops wieird telemerty errors

[UKSmartypants]

Voyager 1 has started sending Junk telemetry back from the attitude articulation and control system. This is the feedback information from the mass of thrusters that control the spacecraft attitude. We know theres nothing wrong with the attitude of the craft because the High gain antenna, which is very narrow beam, is still providing a good signal, so the antenna must be aligned at the Earth properly, but the telemetry says otherwise, so we know the telemetry is junk.

Voyager 1 is now 20 light hours away, so a command and response takes 42 hours. The spacecraft is well into interstellar space and no longer shielded by the Heliosphere, so this could be some sort of radiation disruption. The electronics of the Voyagers are pretty 1970's, all Post Office mechanical relays but there are also radiation hardened 74 series logic chips, which might be resistant to earth conditions, but this is Interstellar Space, its the Wild west particle and radiation wise. Voyager 2 is behaving normally, so this is a local issue.

But for a 50 year old bit of kit expected to last 3 years, its still doing pretty good.

[ruthless terrier]

it has traveled 14.5 billion miles so far. a toast to the Voyager .. out there all alone.

[Ginger]

Voyager 1 is now 20 light hours away

did you mean light years? I can fix that for you and erase my post, @UKSmartypants

you have time to fix it yourself if you want to

[UKSmartypants]

did you mean light years? I can fix that for you and erase my post, @UKSmartypants

you have time to fix it yourself if you want to

no its 14b miles, thats 20 light hours.


We are 9 light minutes from the sun



Speed of light is given in meters/sec ie light seconds


but you can x60 and measure it in metres per minute, ie light minutes 1.8e7 meters

of multiple again by 60 again to get metres per hour ie light hours = 1.07 e11 meters

then light days, light weeks, light months, light years, light decades...............

and ofc, Parsecs, which is what Astronomers usually use, a parsec is the distance from the Sun to an astronomical object that has a parallax angle of one arcsecond



And if you want some mind boggling maths, convert 20 light hours to parsecs.

[Call_me_Ishmael]

VGER in need of repair? Uh oh.


VGer | Star Trek

[Hillofbeans]

Here’s the math. We orbit the Sun at a distance of about 150 million km. Light moves at 300,000 kilometers/second. Divide these and you get 500 seconds, or 8 minutes and 20

[UKSmartypants]

Here’s the math. We orbit the Sun at a distance of about 150 million km. Light moves at 300,000 kilometers/second. Divide these and you get 500 seconds, or 8 minutes and 20

Pretty much, the orbit isnt circular but yea, round up to 9 light minutes.