Voyager is very very far away

had_enough · 04-02-2006, 07:46 PM

Read somewhere that the voyager spacecraft is 8 billion miles away and that a radio signal from a 250ft dish running 20kw, takes around +- 12 hours to get there.Thats travelling at 186,000 miles per second

With these vehicles running on nuclear fision, I think that good going considering the distance and how weak the signal must be.

**Will** · 04-02-2006, 08:54 PM

Running on Nuclear Fission? You sure about that?

had_enough · 04-02-2006, 09:21 PM

I am pretty sure...it is. Without having a look, as no batteries would last for 25 years and the sunlight needed to charge batteries would be but a spec in the distantance.

**Will** · 04-02-2006, 10:05 PM

I don't know, I'd been led to believe that NASA couldn't take nuclear material into space, as the dangers are too extreme.

I do know however, that it could quite easily last that long on it's power cells, it wouldn't be sending constand info back, just the occasional radio signal. Although I was also led to believe that they'd lost contact with Voyager a long time ago. There was more then one though, so I could be wrong.

had_enough · 04-02-2006, 11:06 PM

yep, there are 2 of them.......
They both send back data on a regular basis and ofcourse are sent various commands.The NASA webpage should have all the info.....
I believe the power is expected to last until 2030 or there abouts.

had_enough · 04-02-2006, 11:09 PM

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecra...craftlife.html

Bruv · 04-02-2006, 11:32 PM

The craft is not affected by cloud cover or rainydays and is an airless vacuum....it needs a minimum of power, and that is got by solar or battery electricity....I should imagine.

David Courtney · 04-03-2006, 03:32 AM

I thought it was solar powered :\

had_enough · 04-03-2006, 08:34 AM

look at the link I provided and you will see it is nuclear powered........

The Relic · 04-03-2006, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ringwraith18

I thought it was solar powered :\

It uses a radioisotope, which is very small beer in terms of radiation risk, as even if a dispersal took place in the Earth's atmosphere directly right above a jumbo jet the radiation dose would be at x-ray levels. Will's right about reservations about carrying heavy duty nuclear material into space: far more scary, given the very high risk of explosion that still exists with rocket propulsion.