Sun, Dec 26, 2010
Commands Take 16 Hours To Reach The Spacecraft
NASA recently said that Voyager 1 has reached a point at the
edge of our solar system where there is no outward motion of solar
wind. Now approximately 10.8 billion miles from the sun, Voyager
1's passage through the heliosheath, the turbulent outer shell of
the sun's sphere of influence, and the spacecraft's upcoming
departure from our solar system, mark a major milestone as it will
become mankind's first interstellar probe. In about 40,000 years,
Voyager 1 will drift within 1.6 light years (9.3 trillion miles) of
AC+79 3888, a star in the constellation of Camelopardalis. Signals
to command the thrusters now take more than 16 hours to reach the
spacecraft.
Voyager 1 Artist's Rendering
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977, and are the
oldest operational spacecraft. At launch, each spacecraft carried
two propulsion systems, a Delta-V system, including four 100 lbf
and four 5 lbf monopropellant hydrazine thrusters made by Aerojet,
and an attitude control system including 16 0.2 lbf monopropellant
hydrazine thrusters. The Delta-V systems have long since been
jettisoned, but the attitude control systems remain operational
today. The 100 lbf thrusters are the original version of the
thrusters intended for Orion's crew module and the 0.2 lbf
thrusters are the original version of the thrusters currently in
use for the Global Positioning System Block IIR, and are similar to
those newly in service for GPS Block IIF.
"Voyager has transformed our understanding of the solar system,"
said Aerojet Program Manager Jon Schierberl. "Aerojet is proud to
have been a part of the mission every step of the way." Schierberl
is one of a handful of people at Aerojet who has worked programs
(including Voyager) that have explored or will explore every planet
in the solar system.
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