Interstellar Mission
On February 14, 1990, Voyager 1 took the first ever "family portrait" of our Solar System as seen from outside, which includes the famous image known as "Pale Blue Dot". It is estimated that both Voyager craft have sufficient electrical power to operate their radio transmitters until at least 2025, which will be over 48 years after launch.
On November 17, 1998, Voyager 1 overtook Pioneer 10 as the most distant man-made object from Earth, at a distance of 69.419 AU (1.03849×1010 km). It is currently the most distant functioning space probe to receive commands and transmit information to Earth. The spacecraft's mission now is its eternal mission, to study and wander the interstellar medium. At 17.26 km/s (10.72 mi/s) it has the fastest heliocentric recession speed of any man-made object.
Provided Voyager 1 does not collide with any stellar objects, the New Horizons space probe will never pass it, despite being launched from Earth at a faster speed than either Voyager spacecraft. New Horizons is traveling at about 15 km/s, 2 km/s slower than Voyager 1, and is still slowing down. When New Horizons reaches the same distance from the Sun as Voyager 1 is now, its speed will be about 13 km/s (8 mi/s). The close flyby of Saturn and Titan gave Voyager 1 a massive advantage with its extra gravity assist.
| Year | End of specific capabilities as a result of the available electrical power limitations |
|---|---|
| 2007 | Termination of plasma subsystem (PLS) |
| 2008 | Power off Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment (PRA) |
| 2010 | Terminate scan platform and Ultraviolet spectrometer (UVS) observations |
| 2015 | Termination of Data Tape Recorder (DTR) operations (limited by ability to capture 1.4 kbit/s data using a 70 m/34 m antenna array. This is the minimum rate at which the DTS can read-out data.) |
| 2016 approx | Termination of gyroscopic operations |
| 2020 | Start shutdown of science instruments (as of October 18, 2010 (2010 -10-18) the order is undecided but the Low-Energy Charged Particles, Cosmic Ray Subsystem, Magnetometer, and Plasma Wave Subsystem instruments are expected to still be operating) |
| 2025–2030 | Can no longer power any single instrument. |
Read more about this topic: Voyager 1
Famous quotes containing the word mission:
“It is the mission of the twentieth century to elucidate the irrational.”
—Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1907–1961)