https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7446
"With careful planning and dashes of creativity, engineers have been
able to keep NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft flying for nearly 42
years - longer than any other spacecraft in history. To ensure that
these vintage robots continue to return the best science data possible
from the frontiers of space, mission engineers are implementing a new
plan to manage them. And that involves making difficult choices,
particularly about instruments and thrusters.
[...]
After extensive discussions with the science team, mission managers
recently turned off a heater for the cosmic ray subsystem instrument
(CRS) on Voyager 2 as part of the new power management plan. The cosmic
ray instrument played a crucial role last November in determining that
Voyager 2 had exited the heliosphere, the protective bubble created by a
constant outflow (or wind) of ionized particles from the Sun. Ever
since, the two Voyagers have been sending back details of how our
heliosphere interacts with the wind flowing in interstellar space, the
space between stars.
[...]
Mission team members can now preliminarily confirm that Voyager 2's
cosmic ray instrument is still returning data, despite dropping to a
chilly minus 74 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 59 degrees Celsius). This is
lower than the temperatures at which CRS was tested more than 42 years
ago (down to minus 49 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 45 degrees Celsius).
Another Voyager instrument also continued to function for years after it
dropped below temperatures at which it was tested."
Via Kam-Yung Soh, who wrote: "NASA has figured out how to keep the
Voyager probes working, and returning data. Amazing."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://www.xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
http://www.glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
http://www.sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
