NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft are still chugging along outside the solar
system, even though they were launched more than 44 years ago.
The Voyagers were launched in 1977 to study Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
Today, Voyager 1 is exploring interstellar space beyond our solar system.
While both robotic explorers have issues, the Voyagers still have some working sensors,
and the two vehicles regularly send vital data back to Earth.
The Voyager 2 is around 128 astronomical units (AU) away from the Sun, with 1 AU being the
average Earth-Sun distance.
That is approximately three times farther away than Pluto.
Any radio signals Voyager 2 sends to Earth take around 17 hours and 25 minutes to reach
our world.
Plus, if ground control is to respond, add another 17+ hours.
Even further out is Voyager 1, which is nearly 151 AU away from the Sun.
For a one-way conversation, this translates to around 21 hours of travel time.
Despite the great distance, the Voyagers are frequently contacted by researchers and flight
controllers.
The connection, so to speak, was cut in March 2020.
That's because NASA needed to fix DSS-43, a 230-foot-wide (70-meter) antenna in Canberra,
Australia, which can serve as a cosmic megaphone for the probe.
The Voyagers send information and pictures back to Earth using the Deep Space Network,
or DSN.
The DSN is a network of large radio antennas spread around the globe.
It is made up of three communications facilities, one of which is in Canberra.
In addition to Canberra, the DSN comprises two more similar facilities: one in Madrid,
Spain, and the other at Goldstone Observatory near Barstow, California.
Each station features a 70-meter (230-foot) antenna as well as smaller radio dishes.
However, Canberra is the only facility in the southern hemisphere, therefore it has
the only antenna with a straight line of sight to Voyager 2.
When DSS-43 went out in March, it was the longest cold shoulder Earth had given Voyager
2 in the last 30 years.
The three communication facilities are around 120 degrees apart on the Earth's surface.
This alignment is crucial because it ensures that most spacecraft can interact with at
least one DSN site at any one time.
That means as the Earth turns, we never lose sight of a spacecraft.
These massive DSN antennas receive photos and other data from the Voyagers.
The antennas also receive information about the spacecraft's location and status.
At the same time, NASA utilizes the DSN to send lists of instructions to the spacecraft.
The robotic explorers have a lot of work ahead of them.
They can't use communication equipment that is too heavy, takes up too much space, or
consumes too much power.
The Voyagers’ small antennae can shoot faint radio signals back to Earth.
As the Voyagers move further away, a larger antenna is required to detect the signals.
The largest antenna at each DSN site is 70 meters (230 feet) in diameter.
The Voyagers' signals to the antennas are quite weak since they are so far away.
In fact, the DSN antennas get 20 billion times less power from the Voyager signals than is
required to run a digital watch.
Engineers have devised ways to amplify those signals so that they can be stronger.
The Voyagers gather data about their surroundings in real-time and broadcast it back to Earth
via radio transmissions.
Once the DSN antennas receive the signals, centers at each DSN site receive incoming
information.
They then send it to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Space Flight Operations Facility in Pasadena,
California.
The images and other data are processed and shared with scientists, as well as the public.
Given the track record and low cost of radio broadcasts, as well as the development of
distant spacecraft, it appears likely NASA's DSN and others like it will continue to operate
for decades.
Voyager 2 is expected to continue operating and connecting with Earth until at least 2025,
with Voyager 1 perhaps reaching 2030.
However, the power supplied by their radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) will soon
be insufficient to sustain any instruments that are still operational.
After then, like the Pioneer probes before them, the Voyagers will continue their journey
across space in silence.
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