Space is a place where we know a lot, and yet know very little.
Through our various technologies we have crossed many boundaries, seen planets and wonders
that continue to marvel us to this day, but we only know a small fraction of the universe
as a whole.
This is why we rely on things like the Voyager Space Probes to go out into the universe and
deliver us information that we didn't have before, and hope that they last as long as
possible so that we can keep getting that info.
For those that don't know, Voyager 1 is a probe that humanity sent out to observe the
universe at large, and it's currently well past Pluto and has shown us many things about
our solar system.
In 2017, it was set at around 138 AU's from our planet.
AU means "Astronomical Unit", which means the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
So 138 AU's means that it's 138 times far than the Earth is from the sun right now.
That's a really big number.
Over 12 billion miles to be exact.
That's the farthest anything from man has traveled in space.
One of its crowning achievements was a photograph showing a set of sunbeams, and in one of those
sunbeams was earth.
It was a dot.
A dot in a grander scale photograph of our solar system.
That's how small we are in the scale of our system when you look from the outside in,
we are a dot.
An epic dot, but a dot no doubt.
As for Voyager 2, despite it launching BEFORE Voyager 1 (by 16 days), it was set on a similar
mission to explore the solar system.
Albeit via a different route that took it past Neptune and Uranus.
The point here is that these two probes are the farthest things that humanity has sent
into the solar system.
They have traveled incredible distances and are still revealing things about our solar
system that continue to both boggle the mind and astound us.
One of the most important things about these particular probes right now is that they are
in Interstellar Space, meaning that they are indeed beyond our solar system, and they're
seeing all sorts of interesting things and helping us learn even more about our universe.
But of course, that raises a very fundamental question in terms of science and distance.
If the Voyager 1 & 2 are in Interstellar Space...how the heck are we communicating with it?
Distance matters in communications as we all know, and the farther you travel from a point
the harder it is to communicate.
So since we're not just talking about space, but outside of our solar system via interstellar
space...how are we reaching the probes?
The simple answer to that is the "Deep Space Network", also known as the DSN.
This is a series of radio antennae that work together to not just send signals into space,
but receive the signals from the craft, and even give it instructions on what to do next.
Just as important though is this, the network of antennae are all over the world.
There are DSN locations near Canberra, Australia; Madrid, Spain; and Goldstone, California.
Those sites are almost evenly spaced around the planet.
That means as the Earth turns, we never lose sight of a spacecraft.
Which is obviously very important when it comes to mapping out the universe and knowing
where all of your biggest assets are.
We've been using this system to detect the Voyagers 1 & 2 since their launch, and clearly
they are effective.
But...I'm sure you're not getting all of your questions answered, because I'm sure you're
noticing a flaw in this plan.
Mainly, we have a big set of satellite antennae here on Earth, but the probe itself is rather
small, so how does something that small beam signals back to these antennae?
Well, honestly, you're thinking of it a bit backwards.
You see, to make the Voyager Probes worth it in terms of scientific study as well as
a long-term investment, both of them had to be outfitted with as many scientific instruments
as possible.
Some of which are still working today despite them being VERY old.
Anyway, when it came to the communications system, NASA had to make a compromise.
The system on the probes itself is honestly very small.
So much so that they send only the weakest of signals back to Earth, which would usually
be a problem.
Except...to counter this, NASA and others around the world made very BIG antennae in
order to make sure that they were seeing their craft at all times and getting their signals.
So despite the signals being weak, the long reach of the antennae ensure that we always
receive the signals as a whole.
However, there is a catch to this.
The farther away a spacecraft is, the larger the antenna you need to detect its signal.
The largest antenna at each DSN site is 70 meters (230 feet) in diameter.
And one is actually being built right now to be even bigger than that!
Before we dive into that new antennae though, be sure to like or dislike the video so that
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NASA is upgrading the radio dish in Australia that mission team members use to send commands
to Voyager 2, which again launched in 1977 and entered interstellar space in November
2018.
Voyager 2 will be on its own until that work is done in January 2021, though the spacecraft
will still be able to beam science data home.
This is very important to note for the basic reason of the probe is not at full capacity
in terms of its power.
The Voyager 2 probe is already "past its expiration date", and many of its systems don't work
anymore.
A glitch that recently occurred proved that the probe may not be as responsive as it once
was.
As it shut down the probe after using up to much reserve power.
So if something like this happens again, it'll be drifting in space on its own for who knows
how long until NASA can get this dish up and thus re-establish contact with it.
True, the DSN tries to make sure this doesn't happen, but with the largest dish down, there
is a blind spot that can be exploited.
Despite the potential risks this entails, the team at NASA aren't too worried it appears:
"We put the spacecraft back into a state where it will be just fine, assuming that everything
goes normally with it during the time that the antenna is down," Voyager project manager
Suzanne Dodd, who also serves as director of the Interplanetary Network Directorate
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement Wednesday
(March 4).