NASA's Voyager I and II probes are expected to have enough power until 2025. The time for the spacecraft to go to sleep is coming up after 45 years of sending incredible data back to the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory about our solar system and interstellar space. Scientists and engineers have made adjustments to the instruments aboard the probes to extend their life for as long as possible, turning them into one of NASA's longest-lived scientific missions.
Built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the '70s, Voyager I and II were equipped with an impressive array of instruments such as cameras, antennas, sensors, heaters, and thrusters that comprise approximately 60,000 individual parts. The Voyager system is one of the most sophisticated ever built for a deep-space probe. It has helped scientists obtain mind-blowing data and images of Saturn and its rings, Jupiter, and Neptune.The spacecraft's design protects them to withstand high radiation exposure throughout the heliosphere and beyond.
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Four decades of navigating through the cold vastness of space come with inevitable deterioration. The Voyager probes achieve temperature control thanks to nuclear decay. Three Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, or RTGs, produce heat via the natural decay of plutonium-238 radioisotopes and convert that heat into electrical power. This is what helps keep all scientific instruments and communications equipment running. The fuel that propels the spacecraft is hydrazine, and it isn't expected to run out until 2040. The main problem, though, is staying alive and warm. Scientists and engineers have had to make choices as far as which instruments to keep running in order to make sure Voyager continues to send data. When the fuel runs out and the systems turn off, the probes will wander space indefinitely until - and if - they are found.
The Golden Record
The other more ambitious aspect of the Voyager mission, besides the exquisite data so far obtained, was to communicate with extraterrestrials. A NASA committee chaired by Carl Sagan and associates assembled 115 images in analog form that would represent Earth's life and cultural diversity, as well as different earthly sounds. These included spoken greetings in different languages, music from around the world, the sound of a kiss, and even a whale song, and put them inside a golden plated record, of which each probe carries a copy. As NASA describes, each record is encased in a protective aluminum jacket with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions, in symbolic language, explain the spacecraft's origin and indicate how to play the record. The Golden Record cover also includes directions to our solar system with respect to 14 pulsars, should aliens want to visit the inception place of this terrestrial artifact.
The future is hopeful for the mission, even when the electronics in the twin probes die and the hydrazine burns up. Carl Sagan said, "The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space." It is unlikely this will happen in NASA's lifetime, but at least humanity will have a piece of its legacy wandering around in the cosmos for whoever is willing to listen.
Next: What Happens To The ISS After Russia's Planned Exit?
Source: NASA
