40 years of flight "Voyagers". Soon they will be silent forever

40 years ago, Earth scientists sent two interplanetary stations into the far flight, which were named “Voyager-1” and “Voyager-2” . These stations are identical, distinguishes only their name and launch time.

The Voyager-2 station was launched on August 20, 1977, its twin - on September 5 of the same year. Until the fortieth anniversary of "Voyager 1" it remains to wait another couple of weeks. There is no confusion with the numbering of probes, since the specialists initially planned that Voyager-1 should overtake their fellow man. And so it happened: the probe with the number one was able to get ahead between the orbit of Mars and the asteroid belt.
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Both stations went on different routes, which allowed them to go down in history. Voyager-1 is currently the most distant object created by man from our planet. And Voyager-2 is the first and only probe so far that was able to make a visit at once to the four planets-gas giants of the Solar System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Voyager-1 is not only the most distant man-made object from the Earth, but also the fastest. Its speed is 17 km / s. Now he is at a distance of 139 astronomical units, it is 21 billion kilometers. The flight data of both Voyagers is constantly updated on a special page of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The boundaries of the solar system

It is said that Voyager 1 has left the borders of the solar system. This happened more than once. Scientists have several times announced that the probe “already exactly” left our system, after which it turned out that this was not the case.


Over the difficulty of defining space records joked comic xkcd. Number of times that Voyager 1 left the boundaries of the solar system, xkcd: 1189

Borders were groped in 2012. At this time, the device entered the heliopause zone, where the pressure of the solar wind balances the pressure of the interstellar medium. The heliosphere itself is a region of the circumsolar space where the solar wind still prevails over the “galactic wind” - the flow of particles of the interstellar medium.

In 2013, several times it was reported that Voyager-1 went beyond the limits of the influence of the Sun, and in September of the same year it was confirmed .


Thus, the probe is still in interstellar space. Finally, scientists were convinced of this only in 2014. Now the plasma that surrounds the probe is about 40 times more dense than it was within the solar system.

It should be noted that scientists, saying that the apparatus has left the system, speak precisely about the heliosphere. If we talk about going beyond the orbit of celestial bodies that rotate around the sun, this has not happened yet. The probe has not yet reached the orbit of Sedna, the trans-Neptune object, not to mention the Oort cloud. This cloud, “populated” by long-period comets, is considered the outer edge of the solar system.

Speed ​​dial

In order for the devices to gain sufficient speed, they were launched with the help of a heavy Titan 3E rocket with an additional fourth stage. The first and second stages were filled with nitrogen tetroxide and aerosine. Liquid hydrogen and oxygen were used in the third stage, and solid fuel was used in the fourth.

Probe Features

Scientists took into account that a few years after the launch, Voyagers did not have enough solar panel energy to operate all systems. Therefore, each of the devices is immediately equipped with three radioisotope thermoelectric generators, whose power at the time of launch was 470 watts. Now, due to the half-life, the power is already lower - about 300 watts. Over time, it will fall. It is believed that in a few years the energy received by the probes will not be enough for normal operation, so that the systems will continue their way in radio silence.

The design of the device also provides for the presence of three types of computers. The first is for managing scientific instruments and instruments, the second is controlling flights, the third is command. For the reservation of computers of each type installed two.


Work on the creation of "Voyager" continues (July 9, 1976), NASA

Earth News

40 years ago, designers who developed probes wanted to connect with the alien mind. The authors of the project put news from earthlings into the apparatuses.

The main thing that the scientists wanted to indicate in the message is the location of the Earth. This was done by creating a specific map, where the main landmarks are pulsars. A total of fourteen, and each has unique characteristics. An alien civilization that can intercept Voyager (any of them) about the features of the pulsars should be known. Each of them has existed for millions of years, so this is a fairly reliable beacon that will work for a very long time. Alien mind can understand where the Earth is and after a million years. Perhaps some pulsars may exist for several billion years. All of them rotate rapidly, plus they have a unique “profile” of electromagnetic radiation pulses. The delay between pulses is also unique. As a result, the pulsars decided to consider "space beacons", and make a map based on the pulsars.



The length of the lines that connect each pulsar with the Sun (this is the central element on the map) show how far each of them is from our star. The rotational speed of the pulsars is written in binary code, so that all the data could be reduced to just 12 characters. In addition to the location of the Earth, the map is able to give an understanding of when the probe was launched.

The information in question was recorded on gold plates. The author of the card is Frank Drake. His daughter, Katherine Denning, says that scientists did not particularly argue about the possible risks of contact with "brothers in mind" when preparing the map and making gold plates. Now, by the way, Denning is studying the pros and cons of sending messages to extraterrestrial civilizations. What is characteristic, now more and more specialists, not to mention ordinary people, believe that you should not try to be heard - it’s better, just as before, to just listen to the cosmos in search of "relatives".

"Voyagers" - a threat to the Earth?

As mentioned above, more and more people are now inclined to believe that “Voyagers” are a threat to humanity, as they carry information about the exact location of the Earth. These data can be used by the alien mind, for example, to attack our planet.

Why did the scientists nevertheless decide to send a map and a gold plate, where they tell in detail about life on Earth and humanity? Francis Drake says that when the Voyagers were launched, the scientists did not even know if there were other planets outside the solar system. More precisely, most experts believed that of course, they exist. But there was no evidence of this.



Now, thanks to the Kepler telescope, scientists already know that exoplanets are the rule for the Universe, not the exception, and there are also many Earth-like planets. As a result, it may well be that life in space is also the rule, not the exception.

But since we do not even imagine what may be “on the other side of space,” then sending any data about yourself can be a very rash act. "In those years, almost all the people with whom I spoke were optimists who believed that if aliens exist, they are most likely friendly," Drake said recently. "No one thought that what we are doing could be simply dangerous."

However, the same Drake believes that the likelihood that the maps on board the probes will fall to an extraterrestrial civilization is extremely small. “They move at a speed of more than 10 kilometers per second. At this speed, the devices will be able to reach the nearest star only after half a million years, then another half million will be needed in order to arrive at another star. And it is clear that they are not directed to a particular luminary. They simply fly where they are sent. ”


If the aliens discover the Earth, the scientist believes, then due to radio noise and other signs of the existence of civilization on the planet. But the probes are likely to fly in the silence of the universe forever, remaining unnoticed for millions of years.

While the devices continue to work, which means that they still send to Earth the most valuable data about what constitutes deep space.

So Voyagers are good, not evil. They have brought great benefits, and the harm of the message of mankind is hardly possible.