Voyager 1 computer issue prevents communication with Earth

[essentialsaltes]

Voyager 1 is currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth at about 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) [nearly one light-day] away, while its twin Voyager 2 has traveled more than 12 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) from our planet.

Initially designed to last five years, the Voyager probes are the two longest-operating spacecraft in history.

The mission team first noticed the issue November 14, when the flight data system’s telecommunications unit began sending back a repeating pattern of ones and zeroes, like it was trapped in a loop.

While the spacecraft can still receive and carry out commands transmitted from the mission team, a problem with that telecommunications unit means no science or engineering data from Voyager 1 is being returned to Earth.

The Voyager team sent commands over the weekend for the spacecraft to restart the flight data system, but no usable data has come back yet, according to NASA.

 

[AlexB23]

Voyager 1 is currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth at about 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) [nearly one light-day] away, while its twin Voyager 2 has traveled more than 12 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) from our planet.

Initially designed to last five years, the Voyager probes are the two longest-operating spacecraft in history.

The mission team first noticed the issue November 14, when the flight data system’s telecommunications unit began sending back a repeating pattern of ones and zeroes, like it was trapped in a loop.

While the spacecraft can still receive and carry out commands transmitted from the mission team, a problem with that telecommunications unit means no science or engineering data from Voyager 1 is being returned to Earth.

The Voyager team sent commands over the weekend for the spacecraft to restart the flight data system, but no usable data has come back yet, according to NASA.

It is impressive how the Voyager 1 probe has been trucking for over 46 years. If the probe's onboard computer issue is resolved, the spacecraft is expected to last until ~2030 as the Pu-238 RTG (radioisotope thermoelectric generator) is expected to generate enough electrical power to last a few more years. The electricity generated by the RTG is used by sensors and the onboard computer for Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.

Voyager RTG info: The Voyager probes are not fully powering down ... yet

 

[Tinker Grey]

From the book The Pale Blue Dot (Pale Blue Dot - Wikipedia)

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.​

Taken in 1990 by voyager 1

 

[AlexB23]

From the book The Pale Blue Dot (Pale Blue Dot - Wikipedia)

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.​

​

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.​

​

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.​

​

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.​

​

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.​

Taken in 1990 by voyager 1
View attachment 340391

Pale Blue Dot was made by Carl Sagan, a prominent astronomer of the late 20th century. He along with Hubble and Lemaitre are my favorite astronomers.

Edit: The Pale Blue Dot photograph was taken 3.7 billion miles (6 billion km) from the sun on Feb 14, 1990. That distance is equivalent to the distance from the sun to Pluto, or around 40 times the average distance from Earth to the sun, known as an astronomical unit according to source 1. The image was not taken anywhere near Pluto, as the position of Voyager 1 was 1.63 billion miles (2.63 billion km) from Pluto at the time. Pluto was not at the right location for Voyager 1 to fly past, according to source 2.

Source 1: Pale Blue Dot - Wikipedia
Source 2: Voyager 1 distance from Pluto on 2/14/1990 - Wolfram|Alpha

 

[Tinker Grey]

Pale Blue Dot was made by Carl Sagan, a prominent astronomer of the late 20th century. He along with Hubble and Lemaitre are my favorite astronomers.

The man could write.

 

[AlexB23]

The man could write.

Agreed. Now Neil deGrasse Tyson continues Sagan's legacy for words and astronomy with a 2010s reboot of the 1980s Cosmos television series on PBS. I should watch both the original and reboot with my library card on DVD.

Neil D. Tyson: Neil deGrasse Tyson - Wikipedia
Cosmos reboot: Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey - Wikipedia

 

[Bradskii]

The man could write.

Impossible to read it without hearing his distinctive voice.

 

[Bradskii]

Voyager 1 is currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth at about 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) [nearly one light-day] away, while its twin Voyager 2 has traveled more than 12 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) from our planet.

Initially designed to last five years, the Voyager probes are the two longest-operating spacecraft in history.

The mission team first noticed the issue November 14, when the flight data system’s telecommunications unit began sending back a repeating pattern of ones and zeroes, like it was trapped in a loop.

While the spacecraft can still receive and carry out commands transmitted from the mission team, a problem with that telecommunications unit means no science or engineering data from Voyager 1 is being returned to Earth.

The Voyager team sent commands over the weekend for the spacecraft to restart the flight data system, but no usable data has come back yet, according to NASA.

Hang in there, V'ger!

If Roddenberry was right, then someone will send it back one day. The film was based on one episode of the original series.

 

[AlexB23]

Hang in there, V'ger!

If Roddenberry was right, then someone will send it back one day. The film was based on one episode of the original series.

I have watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture back in 2016 or so, and it was great. Makes me wonder, if humans develop a spaceship to catch up with the Voyagers, if we will be able to recover the Golden Record, an archive of dozens of songs and photographs carved onto an LP (long play) disk with instructions to play the media on the disk's cover.

Golden Record info: Voyager - The Golden Record

 

[Miles]

The Voyager probes have encountered numerous problems over the years. I find it fascinating how the team solves them. Such old hardware. So far away. It underscores the importance of having redundant systems.

 

[AlexB23]

The Voyager probes have encountered numerous problems over the years. I find it fascinating how the team solves them. Such old hardware. So far away. It underscores the importance of having redundant systems.

Aircraft also have redundant systems, such as three hydraulic lines to operate flaps and other configurable aerodynamic surfaces, and multiple flight computers. Redundancy is an important part for machines that have long service lives, such as space probes or airplanes.

 

[AV1611VET]

Taken in 1990 by voyager 1

Looks photoshopped to me.

Look in the background, behind that "pale blue dot."

The earth is almost smack in the center of a white river or cloud or whatever it is.

Interesting that Dawkins used pale blue lines to connect the dots on his evolution chart.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Looks photoshopped to me.

Three monochromatic images have been combined into one image. Photoshop didn't exist yet.

Look in the background, behind that "pale blue dot."

The earth is almost smack in the center of a white river or cloud or whatever it is.

It's an artifact of light reflecting inside the camera.

Interesting that Dawkins used pale blue lines to connect the dots on his evolution chart.

View attachment 340645

Dawkins was visiting a museum. That was just a display on the wall. (And has nothing to do with Voyager 1.)

 

[AV1611VET]

Three monochromatic images have been combined into one image.

By Voyager?

Or by scientists behind closed doors?

Why did Voyager have to take three images?

Wouldn't one do?

Or, as I suspect, did scientists have to dress it up, so they could present it to the public in a certain way?

Photoshop didn't exist yet.

I'm not sure of the exact term.

I like a term I made up ("chiseling"), but I used "photoshopped" as a generic term.

That's what I think scientists do nowadays.

They take things, chisel them to get them to force-fit what they want us to see, then present it to us as factual.

It's an artifact of light reflecting inside the camera.

Got busted, didn't they?

Dawkins was visiting a museum.

I don't care if he was at the Taj Mahal.

Light blue is still light blue -- whether it's a dot in this thread, or a line in his museum.

That was just a display on the wall.

Yup.

Only on paper.

Just like the fake picture in this thread.

(And has nothing to do with Voyager 1.)

But everything to do with evidence tampering and duping the public.

 

[sjastro]

From the book The Pale Blue Dot (Pale Blue Dot - Wikipedia)

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.​

​

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.​

​

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.​

​

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.​

​

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.​

Taken in 1990 by voyager 1
View attachment 340391

I much prefer the pale blue dot image captured by Cassini in 2013.
This was also a combination of three monochrome images taken when Saturn eclipsed the Sun from Cassini's location allowing Earth to be imaged.
Note several of Saturn's moons in the image as well.

To the ignorant science haters in this forum the only thing photoshopped in this image is the you are here sign.

 

[AV1611VET]

This was also a combination of three monochrome images ...

... the only thing photoshopped in this image is the you are here sign.

Which is it?

Is it three pictures in one? or nothing's been photoshopped?

 

[Hans Blaster]

By Voyager?

Voyager was a spacecraft that took raw images and transmitted them back to Earth as instructed.

Or by scientists behind closed doors?

Probably at their workstations. It wasn't some sort of secret process. The raw data is available through these links:

Voyager - Science Data Access

Why did Voyager have to take three images?

Three colors, three images. That's the way it works.

Wouldn't one do?

Same camera, three filters.

Or, as I suspect, did scientists have to dress it up, so they could present it to the public in a certain way?

Yes, so you could see it in color.

I'm not sure of the exact term.

I like a term I made up ("chiseling"), but I used "photoshopped" as a generic term.

That's what I think scientists do nowadays.

They take things, chisel them to get them to force-fit what they want us to see, then present it to us as factual.

I am aware you think we are all grifters and frauds. It is rather demeaning for you to remind us of that

Got busted, didn't they?

Hardly. All optical devices have artifacts from diffraction spikes, internal scattered stray light, etc., including your old SLR. It's just MUCH more obvious when imaging a very faint object (the Earth) close in the focal plane to a very bright object (the Sun).

I don't care if he was at the Taj Mahal.

Light blue is still light blue -- whether it's a dot in this thread, or a line in his museum.

So are the blankets baby boys are wrapped in. Is the pale blue dot and "Dawkins diagram" both baby boys, or is this just nonsense. (the latter)

Yup.

Only on paper.

Just like the fake picture in this thread.

It's a diagram, not a "picture" and it accurately portrays the relationships found by evolution. You can disagree with evolution, but those *are* its conclusions.

But everything to do with evidence tampering and duping the public.

Paranoia it strikes deep. Into your life it will creep...

 

[AV1611VET]

It's a diagram, not a "picture" ...

I was referring to Post 3.

Not Post 12.

 

[dlamberth]

I much prefer the pale blue dot image captured by Cassini in 2013.
This was also a combination of three monochrome images taken when Saturn eclipsed the Sun from Cassini's location allowing Earth to be imaged.
Note several of Saturn's moons in the image as well.

To the ignorant science haters in this forum the only thing photoshopped in this image is the you are here sign.

I have no idea why a person would want to chisel earth into the picture when it's right there for the taking.

I feel like I'm playing "Where's Waldo?" I think I can find one of the moons, but that's it, and I'm not even sure about that one.

 

[sjastro]

I have no idea why a person would want to chisel earth into the picture when it's right there for the taking.

I feel like I'm playing "Where's Waldo?" I think I can find one of the moons, but that's it, and I'm not even sure about that one.

I count six of the unidentified moons where I have accentuated their brightness.