Breakthrough: Voyager 1 “Phones Home” After 40+ Years Using Backup Transmitter

[@WatchtowerHunter]

As impressive as this achievement is (and it is a monumental achievement) consider this: this craft has been traveling for nearly 50 years at high speed and has not yet traveled 1 light day. If that does not give you a feeling of awe at the enormity of the galaxy, let alone the universe, I don’t know what could.

[@MalleusSemperVictor]

It's pretty close at 24 billion out of the 26 billion kilometers of straight line travel of the distance of a light day.

[@Dudleymiddleton]

Yes, and for the last 100 years or so we have been transmitting radio waves, creating a 200 light year diameter bubble, which is a tiny speck on one of the arms of our galaxy. It's mind bogglingly big out there! :)

[@dblockbass]

yea when we start talking about distances and sizes of hundreds of light years, we say these words, but in reality we can not truly comprehend them.

[@MuvoTX]

17 km per second, and it needed gravity assist from some of the planets.

[@0101-s7v]

Everything is relative. Light speed is fast, but it's also painfully slow.

[@aydenlokey3641]

My grandfather helped work on it, I'm very happy to see that his and many other's greatest work still powers through, no matter what the universe has thrown at it!

[@Timothyshannon-fz4jx]

Voyager 1, built from 70's technology has gone far beyond anything that could be expected and is arguably the best piece of space hardware ever built, NASA's most successful mission and a tribute to all those, many know past on, who worked on its development.

[@spleantrampoline]

That doesn’t make you question anything?

[@999titu]

80s

[@KeyboardBuster]

It's not made in china, that's why

[@ronwade5433]

My Uncle, Richard C. Wade, designed and built that communication package at Motorola Scottsdale , by the time of V-2 he was a project manager. That communication package will work for hundreds of years!

[@slik560]

@@ronwade5433 an outstanding achievement in engineering design!!!

[@ericschmuecker348]

@ronwade5433 My cousin Ray Schmuecker was 1 of 4 JPL "mathematicians" who worked on Mariner 4. He'd send me press release folders on the stuff like space shuttles and planets, always with cool photos and diagrams. Made my science fair projects A+ Thanks Ray!

[@davidthedeaf]

I don’t have any family who helped that. But one Deaf German woman who gained a first language of American Sign Language far later than the typical requirement of by age 7, when the brain usually switches to developing other sections, got an internship at NASA. So impressed by her, after graduation they hired her, and she works there to this day ensuring flights take off safely. In the 1950’s, 11 Deaf men were chosen by NASA from Gallaudet College, before it became the world’s only Deaf university, to test if human bodies can handle the rigors of space travel. Only two men are still living, quite old now, and shared how they played poker while hearing sailors and NASA scientists puked over the deck as they turned the ship back, cancelling that test. They did many others, and it helped us beat the USSR into space to the moon…finally NASA put it on their website after our school honored the men and we questioned why they keep it hidden that Deaf people have made great contributions to America and the world? Still no movie about it. But one of these men saw how rich men are now getting to go to space with Elon Musk Space X and signed in ASL how much he would like to fly into space. I think NASA and Musk ought to honor him by granting his wish, don’t you?

[@TheLukkystrike]

Yeah well my grandma's uncle's cousin used to work at the drive-thru at in and out. Thanks for the free vanilla shakes Uncle Mike!

[@ropeburn6684]

"By the time of V2" sounds sus 😂😂😂

[@nickisnyder3450]

I was graduating high school when Voyager 1 took off.... Glad to hear back from an old friend

[@stevenhall9009]

I'm also from the class of 81, can you Imagine traveling Billions of miles maintenance free? I wish my car would've held up as well as the Voyager Spacecraft has, I drove a 1974 Chevrolet Caprice

[@ssslimey]

81 is my birth year, they sure knew how to build them.

[@marcosargen3729]

The Voyager missions not only have more than paid for themselves thru discoveries, but proved to ourselves just how good the technology of that time was and what we are capable of.

[@robertthomason8905]

Vger 🖖

[@perhapsasongortwo4812]

*were capable of

[@Daniel-jk7pe]

@@perhapsasongortwo4812 🤓

[@richard999]

@@marcosargen3729 the key difference is that we used nuclear thermal power not solar panels. We now are so afraid of using anything that has the word nuclear that we build stupid mega-solar arrays for long range missions.

[@Buttmunchenhiemer]

Cool! Needing funding much? #Elon

[@J-CBertrand-tp6bg]

In September 1977, I was 20 years old and remember this launch and the launch of his brother, Voyager II, with great excitement. Voyager and his twin have been travelling my entire adult life. Now at 67, it always brings me comfort knowing they function still and are continuing to fulfill the measure of their creation, continuing to give us new discoveries❤️.

[@razercp9322]

@@J-CBertrand-tp6bg I wonder what kind of spacecrafts I’ll see when I’m 17

[@robertm1672]

@J-CBertrand-tp6bg In 77 I was 7 and remember it too. Its been traveling almost my entire life. And if I'm lucky, I'll get to see us reach not only the moon again, but mars!

[@azgardenlover370]

@@J-CBertrand-tp6bg this gives me hope that I can still be revelent as well. I was in high school when it launched.

[@lindaj5492]

@@razercp9322Sad to say, I doubt NASA will survive the second term of a science-denying & ignorant POTUS. So you’ll probably just see Russian, Chinese, India and Musk launching rockets.

[@randywl8925]

67 here too, October second. '57 I think we were in on the ground floor of the space race and appreciate this technology more than any 20 year old today.

[@ratatosk001]

Voyager probes were launched the same year I was born. I have to admit, I feel strongly about their ongoing missions and hope they will survive much much longer. Every time I hear about either of them having any issues it worries me, but it seems they are both very sturdy and resilient pieces of engineering. Unlike my laptop.

[@X9523-z3v]

@@ratatosk001 No planned obsolescence on the rovers

[@casard5235]

Congratulations Voyager 1🎉Stay in touch.

[@o0GzxS41BIbyux3vEoNehl5FH]

Despite this, it's a very lonely mission.

[@ownage11445]

@@o0GzxS41BIbyux3vEoNehl5FH Atleast it’s brother Voyager 2, is right behind him.

[@o0GzxS41BIbyux3vEoNehl5FH]

@@ownage11445 Well, not really. In 1980/81 near Saturn their paths diverged and flew in other directions.

[@peterdabrera3857]

It's tech is more than 50 years old people, UNO drafting, design, simulation, revisions, retesting, approval , etc that adds a lot of time good job sliderule Nerds , I'm impressed 👍

[@Concerned502]

Ironically, the old technology is what makes it possible. New chips contain such small lithography, the mission would undoubtedly be over from micro damage over time.

[@InsanePickle24]

Old things were built to last. Nasa is no exception lol.

[@otisarmyalso]

@@peterdabrera3857 actually i started engineering school June 1973. yes we were on slide rules 6mo. by 74 it were sliderule plus simple +-*\. i was required to return my casio scientific as not allowed. By end of '74 my metal 5 scale pickett SR was retired. Stating students in '75 went straight to scientific calculators. I went from ibm1130 to ibm360, started TI 1976 and bought TI59 programable... slide rules went way of Trex 1974. btw in '79 we still used drafting tables by 85 it was CAD mixed with Table drafting & rapidly went all CAD 1984 me & 2 others had laptop pc. one guy had a luggable Compac. this was out of 200 engineers. I was picked for the Stealth project bc of my laptop. other engineers scheduled pc time at $25/hr billed to project. Even in '87 others still booked pc time at Aramco. I kept my laptop into 90's bc corp software was pitiful. by '77 sliders were toast

[@otisarmyalso]

@@Concerned502wow

[@markcloer5821]

This brings to mind the Star Trek movie about “V…gers” return. Amazing tech!

[@bretts1]

@@markcloer5821 My first thoughts also.

[@dustin612]

@@markcloer5821 it better not come back looking for the creator

[@meddlesome9252]

I frequently tell coders about Voyager I. It had so little memory compared to modern computers, so back then, they had to be ultra careful with every line of code to make it as compact and elegant as possible. Coders today don't even bother with elegance and efficiency.

[@daggern00b]

Efficiency and and elegance aren't as important anymore with the increase in system resources anymore. We have so much more RAM and storage nowadays that efficiency isn't as important anymore as it used to be with the very limited hardware of the time.

[@Errol.C-nz]

@@daggern00b its not even a distance thought .. even for speed efficiencies .. its all only about cranking out applications, egoless programming 🤧😷 .. then .. all the incessant PATCHES & updates to fix their spaghetti coding .. I trained pre C days in Cobol .. omg those are long distant days .. y2k brought a resurgence for coders but was still considered a dinosaur & destined for the graveyard.. just couldn't be superseded .. amasing to think

[@SebastianWeinberg]

Because we have learned over the years that elegance and compactness is way, _way_ less important than readability and maintainability. Setting aside extremely specialised edge cases, where real-time computing is vital, lack of compactness and elegance can easily be made up for by allocating more resources. No amount of computing resources can make a cryptic, over-"optimised" algorithm readable again. A program that performs its task in many, simple, human-understandable steps is much less performant than one that performs some esoteric magic in its algorithm - but one day someone else will have to crack that code open, in order to fix something unforeseen, like we all had to do, in order to avert the Y2K crisis, and they'll be thankful when they see straight-forward, readable (and hopefully _documented)_ code, because chances are that they've got a list of 100 other pieces of code that need the same fix, before the deadline. I became a better programmer, when I learned to let go of my pride and need to impress. Let the compiler provide the optimisation and the processor provide the speed of execution - _my_ job is to provide robust, maintainable code that anybody else can read and immediately understand. Chances are, any elegant or clever solution I come up with is going to be obsolete by the time the next person sees the code. At best it'll garner a nostalgic chuckle, "Oh yeah, I remember! People actually used to _do_ that, back in the day, to squeeze out a tiny bit of extra efficiency! Back before all processors came with a dedicated core for doing exactly this on the hardware level, at 10.000 times the speed. I'll just quickly remove this clever little hack and replace it with straight-forward code, so that the system can automatically offload the task to the dedicated core."

[@Builderguy2001]

Not to mention, most hardware here on Earth is accessible and repairable if there's issues. But spacecraft? They've only got one shot and limited internal repair modules to make it work.

[@Chrissimpson-oo4qx]

@@daggern00b yes it is why you think we have so much glitches because people don't care anymore when they called it like they used to that's why I'm glitches are so terrible and everything

[@Bobrogers99]

Perhaps many of the people who actually assembled the parts that became Voyager are gone, but to any who are still living I send my respect, my admiration and my thanks for doing a job so precisely and carefully! It might not be hard to track down the brilliant designers, but how about the teams of workers in the Clean Room, assembling each delicate part exactly according to specs? All those tiny bolts and fragile wires secured exactly in the right way? They are the heroes who are responsible for Voyager's longevity, and in all probability we will never know who they are.

[@user-adoyle123]

Congratulations NASA. Hi from Ireland ❤

[@Mr.Cockney]

I am amazed of how a device designed and manufactured in the “Prehistory” of engineering, electronics and computing is still functioning and accomplishing its mission and more!

[@hoosierdaddy8002]

They don`t make them like they use to like refrigerators .

[@afterthesmash]

Google AI: BM developed ECL in the late 1950s for use in the IBM 7030 Stretch computer. Motorola introduced the first ECL logic family in integrated circuits in 1962. Scientists first grew a single crystal of GaAs and used it to build photocells in 1955. The planar process was invented in 1959 by Jean A. Hoerni at Fairchild Semiconductor. The CMOS process was invented in 1963 by Frank Wanlass and C. T. Sah of Fairchild Semiconductor. Wanlass patented the idea in 1967. Outside of photonics, while GaN transistors were demonstrated in 1993, it was around 2004 that that the first GaN HEMT transistors became commercially available. Me: Five fundamental fabrication advances, and four of those belong to what you describe as "prehistory". What we've mainly done since 1977 is standardized on planar process fabrication of CMOS transistors and ground on scale harder than ever before in human history, to where they are now unfathomably small, fast, dense and power efficient. What does scale fundamentally buy you? Since the 1990s, it buys you the ability to write shitty software 10x faster, because squandering transistors is cheaper than training the clueless to write tight code; and, more recently, the possibility of achieving generative AI. Wikipedia: The Xerox Alto is a computer system developed at Xerox PARC in the 1970s. It is considered one of the first workstations or personal computers, and it pioneered many aspects of modern computing. It features a GUI, a mouse, Ethernet networking, and the ability to run multiple applications simultaneously. It is one of the first computers to use a WYSIWYG text editor and has a bit-mapped display. The Alto did not succeed commercially, but it had a significant influence on the development of future computer systems. The Alto was designed for an operating system based on a GUI, later using the desktop metaphor. The first machines were introduced in March 1973 and were in limited production starting one decade before Xerox's designs inspired Apple to release the first mass-market GUI computers. Me: With enough work, you could already build computers comparable in speed to what came far later, but they occupied a very large box, consumed thousands of watts, and cost $134,000 each in 2023 USD. I actually sat in front of one these, or perhaps the Dorado, for an hour in the early 1980s. The Xerox "Dorado" 1132 Lisp machine was actually made with ECL in 1977, with 530 MB/s I/O bandwidth. All it took was damn fine engineers and a _lot_ of money.

[@Nah_Bohdi]

NASA scolded Space-X about safety...then had injured astronauts in a landing, and before that stranded ones in space. Its delusional from politics and antithetical to its original purpose. Another failed government operation eaten from within, becoming the polar opposite of what it was intended for...now its a parts and contract aquisitions & distribution slush fund. $5,000 for a $3 part kind of deal...a literal crime organization.

[@Mr.Cockney]

@ Yes, it may be the reason. In fact, my mother-in-law has got a blender that is nearly 50 years old, and it still works! It is not as powerful as today’s models but it does the job.

[@grahamstretch6863]

@@Mr.Cockney I don’t know about the “prehistory” of engineering, man’s first powered sustained powered flight was 74 years before the launch of Voyager, and man had been engineering things for centuries, even millennia if you look to the Romans and their engineering prowess! Perhaps we should really go back to the Bronze Age when man started engineering things from metal, around 3300 BC In terms of the history of engineering I’d suggest that if you turn engineering from start until now into a 24hr day 47 years is but a few minutes on that clock.

[@gilsonfelix3415]

Limitless for dreamers like me, thank you so much for not dying before watching this. I was just 15 when it was launched, I remember it with joy as if it were today. Good times seem to come back sometimes. I cry with emotion. 😭

[@prkmetalworks2792]

I remember the launch. All I can say is high fives for the engineers that designed that and the techs that built it. Remember the technology we had back then.

[@slayofficial1136]

Congratulations NASA ❤ from India 🇮🇳

[@terryoquinn8199]

This is absolutely amazing ! First , that it’s still doing its thing and second , that it’s still doing its thing ! We haven’t even begun to discover what is going on around us , in space , under the ocean and even underground .” The little Voyager that could “. That’s so cool !

[@kaarlimakela3413]

I love them. Old tech held up better than newer stuff would have. I'm 70. I love it.

[@alison4316]

I love your comment, too lol ❤

[@GrantBroom]

I love your old stuff better than your new stuff ( regurgitator)😅

[@craigstephens93]

I read your comment as a metaphor for the difference in the older and younger generations of people today.

[@41divad]

Not likely

[@moxdox]

To me this is more about the strategy to employ redundancy in your systems to ensure the process is executed in various situations. This is less about old tech vs new tech.🎉

[@marktwain368]

It is beyond incredible that humans made this humble spacecraft which continues to explore deep space and report data. A monumental scientific achievement.

[@LC130Navigator]

JPL managed assembly of the spacecraft, but the sub-systems came from many vendors. The iconic 12-foot diameter reflector/antenna and feed-horn assembly on the Voyager spacecraft was designed and built in the Ford Aerospace materials lab in Palo Alto, Ca. It was the largest rigid (i.e., not furling or folding) antenna ever launched at the time. I had a minor part in the building process, but my dad was a supervising design engineer. The graphite/epoxy face skin-honeycomb core technology used was really in its infancy at the time, and the construction was extremely hands-on. It involved manual cutting and fitting layers of epoxy-impregnated, uni-directional fiber graphite gores onto a huge, hand-built and shaped fire-clay-like form that was vacuum-bagged and wheeled into a large double-door oven for curing.

[@kmburges]

@@LC130Navigator WOW! You played a part in creating a chapter of human history! And you and your dad did a good job at it to!

[@artistjoh]

Voyager is traveling 20x faster than a bullet. 17km every second, yet it has travelled less than one light day. It is in the Kuiper Belt, but will take decades before it reaches the Oort Cloud. and will take hundreds of years to transit through that outer part of the Solar System. Despite our dreams we are probably centuries away from getting people to the nearest star, and that is only possible with technology that we are currently incapable of building. It kind of puts things in perspective. 20x faster than a bullet is still slower than snail's pace.

[@NewHope101Foundation]

This is one of the best machines ever built

[@iAPX432]

At that time, NASA engineering was the best of the bests. Voyagers are pure gems!

[@xynonners]

bring back scientific efficiency! We need this NASA back, nowdays we can barely send something to the moon

[@iAPX432]

@@xynonners Yes, less bureaucrats more engineers and scientists! Make Space Great Again! Watched Star Trek: The Motion picture, a week ago. This is a great homage to Voyagers.

[@saganandroid4175]

Why do I get so emotional over the two Voyagers?

[@UncleBuZ]

@@saganandroid4175 It's natural to feel emotional about Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 because they symbolize humanity's quest for knowledge and exploration. These spacecraft represent our curiosity about the universe and our perseverance over decades. They evoke reflections on our place in the cosmos, the passage of time, and the legacy we leave behind. So, feeling that way is completely understandable!

[@j.r.r.toking]

@@UncleBuZ Well said

[@recordsam]

We also have a deep, inborn longing for eternity, God, home, whatever it is - so sending something so precious and personal - remember the recordings of all manner of life and music, the images, etc., the representation of humanity - so far away, where it can never be reuinited with us, but will go on traveling away from us "forever" - that just touches my heart like few things can.

[@gavincurtis]

Did you know one of them comes back looking for its creator and Kirk saves us all?

[@dustyruffie4735]

Same. I honestly get a sense of loss and melancholy talking about how soon they're going to be quite and their solidarity in the great unknown. I'm actually going to be sad and miss them.

[@davidsipos302]

Amazing! Voyager Spacecraft along with Apollo Missions. Both Designed, Produced, Engineered and Executed by Americans. Both are Crowning Achievements of Past American Greatness!

[@untermench3502]

Voyager 1 was designed primarily with slide rules. Scientists were just getting to use computers for design. I remember taking a math class during that period and we were forbidden to use calculators, but slide rules were OK.

[@dkindig]

I used to have a really nice Pickett with a hard-shell case back in the day...

[@untermench3502]

@@dkindig I had one of the cheap plastic ones. The fancy ones looked like the used Bamboo or something similar. It must have been the friction qualities of the wood.

[@karenlebeter4196]

Congratulations!! Marvelous! I was 26 when it launched. This is such a thrill!

[@Moonstorms]

I feel privileged to be alive when they launched both of these machines and I cherish the picture of a pale blue dot that was taken February 14, 1990 that voyager one took when it turned its camera around behind it. Check it out if you haven’t ever seen it, makes you wonder why are we fighting for?..😢

[@14caz68]

I too say the same 😢

[@roybatty2030]

So true, and why our egos are so big

[@murg27]

Human's Ego/arrogance/greed - primary reasons for "why are we fighting for"

[@solandri69]

Have you seen the Cassini picture of Saturn backlit? There's a blue pixel just outside Saturn's rings. That's Earth. (Mars and Venus also show up in it.)

[@stefanbrill4165]

I saw the moon landings on TV when I was a kid and I followed all the later achievements from there to JWST. What a privilege to be alive during these times. When I look at the world now, I really feel that we may have already passed peak humanity. Let's see what happens tomorrow, that may be an indicator. Now, I still have a few years ahead of me (I hope) and I would love to see further progress, but I doubt that we are still capable of it. Stupidity, laziness and hatred have raised their ugly heads again.

[@nobonespurs]

that is amazing, transistors that had no alpha damage- the NPN junctions still worked!

[@intheshell35ify]

Wonder how many Texas Instruments IC chips got woke up out of a 40 year slumber.

[@nobonespurs]

spacecraft contained 71,017 ICs, plus 267,215 other electronic parts. The spacecraft also contained RCA CMOS ICs,

[@intheshell35ify]

@@nobonespurs wow that's a bunch of PN junctions. Best part of firing up an old solid state beast is the smell. But no smell in space so I have to use my imagination. 😁

[@antonnym214]

Very good design on not only the hardware, but the project and trajectory overall. Also, I fully appreciate Voyager 2, also, because it was the only probe to visit Uranus.

[@fisterB]

And the only one to visit Neptune. Voyager 2 is a far greater hero. Voyager 2 lost its main receiver and damaged its backup receiver within the first week. Yet it did everything above and beyond and it too, is still going like a chad.

[@intheshell35ify]

Probing Uranus was most stimulating.

[@SinergiaAlUnisono]

@@intheshell35ify hahaha

[@BcFuTw9jt]

Must have been pretty awesome to live in a place and around people that could achieve such a accomplishment. Amazing how far we have fallen

[@drew8256]

Great video, amazing technology for such old systems. Real geniuses worked on Voyager. Glad Boeing was not the contractor.

[@robinhodgkinson]

Transmitters aye. Us old guys can remember them. Who’s with me?

[@paulneale988]

I'm 66yrs old and I'm with you, Robin

[@alannorthdevonuk763]

I still play with them, and antennas.

[@mcnairdn]

Launched before I could even sit up. Pale blue dot photo, my freshman HS, and she continues on. Congratulations

[@RichardL.C.]

Thanks!

[@bjorndebakker]

Great work @NASA

[@AMERICANPATRIOT1945]

This transmitter and indeed the entire Voyager spacecraft and other NASA missions of this era are proof of the quality and the quantity of US made products of the era. The USA can and should take back and expand its manufacturing base and bring wholesale consumer manufacturing back home. It is domestic consumer manufacturing which creates the volume and technology of productive capacity stateside necessary to produce quality hardware such as the Voyager spacecraft at somewhat affordable prices. The parts used in Voyager's electronics and mechanics were all US made with very few exceptions. Without large domestic consumer manufacturing, the parts needed become foreign sourced or custom made at huge cost. Even the production capacity to make these parts becomes a custom item rather than readily available at local specialty factories unless there is domestic consumer manufacturing to support those specialty factories.

[@RobertJohnson-lb3qz]

I believe that it’s beginning…

[@fredfred2363]

It's really difficult to manufacture modern gear with the same reliability. why? because PN junctions have become so much smaller. When the junction size becomes almost as small as a high velocity particle impact zone, the chances of failure are so much higher. And low power, low voltage systems are more susceptable to noise, which further complicates things in space. Tricky for interstellar space.

[@douglasstrother6584]

As of 1 Nov 2024, Voyager 1 is 166 AU from Earth and Voyager 2 is 138 AU away.

[@markrix]

The fact that they made a sci-fi movie about this thing (star trec) and almost all the actors have passed, but it's still working, is amazing..

[@bigpauliep6992]

Dude, that statement really isn't as deep as you believe it to be.

[@bigpauliep6992]

And it's "Trek" by the way.

[@ObservaDome]

@@bigpauliep6992 📡"Dude", your Comments Really Aren't As Deep As you Believe Them To Be.📡

[@bigpauliep6992]

@@ObservaDome I'm guessing the echo was caused by the space between your ears.

[@canadiangemstones7636]

Star Dreck you mean.

[@bruceyoung1343]

KUDOS to the designers of Voyager 1.

[@lancesherwood7431]

Job well done! Proud of NASA and Voyager 1!

[@nunyabeeswax9463]

I was about to graduate high school in Baton Rouge when it launched. My father was excited about the mission. My father, a high school drop out, WW2 veteran ended up working on the Apollo , Gemini and space shuttle missions. If you gave him a book, he learned that book. My high school drop out father retired from LSU in the mid 90's. Why did it take so long for the backup to do it's job? I'm sure the fault protection played a huge role. But seriously why so long?

[@mcarp555]

What do you mean by "so long"? A few days to reset the receiving dishes? How long do you think it should have taken?

[@nunyabeeswax9463]

@@mcarp555 The video said 40 years.

[@mcarp555]

@@nunyabeeswax9463 The title is clickbait. Except for a few times it experienced technical issues, Voyager 1 has been in daily touch with Earth since it launched. But the backup transmitter itself was last used in 1981.

[@For_What_It-s_Worth]

Why did it take the backup so long to do its job? Because its job was to take over if/when the primary could no longer do its job. But the primary just kept going, and going, and going…! Until now. So now fault protection has asked the backup to do its job, and it has answered, “YES!”

[@george1la]

Incredible. What quality they did. This has lasted longer than anyone thought. The information is beyone value. This information is not theoretical.

[@NielsMadsen-n7p]

Beyond our solar system and beyond belief. Very impressive.!

[@lindaj5492]

Echoes of “To infinity and beyond,” 😂😂

[@caitlinpenny7412]

I always get emotional thinking about the voyager missions. Similar to the moon rovers you can’t help but start to feel for these silly machines. As though they were lonely little creatures bravely carrying on their missions despite all the setbacks and years of isolation. Think about it though, many of the people who designed, programed and built the voyagers have since passed away, but their dream of exploration is continuing on in their odd looking mechanical child.

[@mike83ny]

“HAL, please turn on the heater. “ “I am now shutting down the primary communication system, as ordered.” “No, HAL, I want you to turn on the heater. “Yes, I have shut down the primary communications system. Switching to secondary systems.”

[@14caz68]

He’s changed ‘sender’ and modernised himself .

[@hektor6766]

"That'll teach you to mess with me, Dave."

[@ZoneProfessionalGardening]

Sometimes, it's not the most modern tech that lasts, but components that are tough and will last the time. This is lasting tech from the 1960s.

[@pi-sx3mb]

Considering most of the people who designed and launched the Voyager missions have either passed or are in their 70's and 80's, this is a stunning achievement that will likely outlast them all.

[@michael_camdog1765]

By 5 September 1977, I was 23 yrs. old and three weeks and four days from leaving the US for my 1rst Med Cruise on an Adams class guided missile destroyer. It's really neat that Voyager is still operational and travelling beyond the outer reaches of our solar system. I hope it is still operating when SpaceX & NASA complete the 1rat successful landings on the moon and Mars.

[@jebsails2837]

I can now tell my grandson that, contrary to a "Star Trek" movie that "V...ger" is still operative. Thanks for the update. Narragansett Bay

[@sergpie]

Something tells me that if we were to build and launch a similar probe today with today’s “rigor”, it would not only not have made it as far, but would likely be mission-abandoned because of a sudden moral quandary in the USA of the ethical implications of space exploration and colonization.

[@chriskeating483]

😂😂

[@smesui1799]

Superb 1970's engineering ! Sad it no longer exists today ( even with today's AI hype ).

[@stephfran9761]

I believe the name is Vyger.

[@Captainumerica]

Maybe one day... 🖖

[@jlp7184]

Exactly. These satellites are going to "meet" something

[@katho8472]

That's Voyager 6, if I am not mistaken ;)

[@SteveM45]

Vygr

[@craigsaunders7037]

My thoughts also. Looks like we're going to have to put William Shatner into stasis with an " incase of emergency break glass " sign. 😟 🤣🤣

[@deniseelles4545]

This is amazing!! Great news!🌝🌌

[@teaspirits]

Excellent! The Voyager legacy continues. ❤

[@HighPeakMultimedia]

I really enjoyed this. Thank you.

[@turkfiles]

I was working for a division of Xerox in Pasadena, California at the time Voyager did its fly by of Saturn. Our division president was invited to JPL where the images were coming in. He was able to see them first hand. He came back with a bunch of photos of Saturn‘s rings, etc. for everyone. I have them stored away somewhere but I’m not sure where they’re at. Hope to find them someday.

[@sabastian4858]

You're a fool incapable of seeing the truth. Deceived much?

[@scottymoondogjakubin4766]

Who would have guessed it had a backup transmitter ! I didnt ! Great nasa did that !

[@murg27]

You had some of the brightest and brilliant minds at Nasa in those days - who had less distractions in life than the ones today.

[@solandri69]

Looking through the design specs, each radio (S- and X-band) has two exciters (for transmitting), and two amplifiers. So there's actually the equivalent of 4 radios aboard. There are only two receivers. Voyager 2's primary receiver failed before its Jupiter encounter. It switched to its backup receiver, but the backup wasn't working properly either (component to compensate for Doppler shift was broken). So for 47+ years they've had to pre-calculate the Doppler shift, and adjust the transmission frequency so the signal arrives at Voyager 2 at a specific frequency. That frequency varies with spacecraft temperature. So they also need to take into account which equipment is currently active (which changes temp) to be able to send it commands. it's a real hack job.

[@mr.thrasher4029]

The distance to Pluto is 3 billion miles from Earth. Voyager is at 15 billion miles from Earth. Yet it's still technically, intrastellar, not interstellar. It's a long way to Tipperary. But we're making strides.

[@1lorett1]

Absolutely incredible!!! ❤

[@donaldboyer8182]

Maybe we should design a space craft specifically for an interstellar voyage. What Voyager 1 did was amazing. Imagine what a craft designed for such a mission would accomplish.

[@jorgelcosta0121]

Congratulations Voyager 1 and its creators. Amazing spacecraft.

[@beboboymann3823]

This might sound silly but the Voyagers have fascinated me as much if not more than all the modern day space efforts. There is a reason they have not failed and still stay in touch and maybe that reason is not scientific.

[@roykay4709]

I wish we have launched explorers every decade, improving as we went so we would learn even more.

[@geronimo5537]

Money and politics.

[@jakekgfn]

The message we received was “If you’d like to make a call please hang up and try again”

[@macsloan58]

Awesome and amazing. Hard to believe.

[@michaelmurphy6869]

It is a tremendous feat for both the engineers and technicians who designed and built that space craft. For it to be still functioning after almost 50 years in the very hostile environment of space. l can imagine that some of those fine people who worked on that project may not be with us anymore, but their legacy will be with us forever.

[@johnhopkins6260]

Even more amazing, much of this engineering was done with slide-rules.

[@joeshmoe7967]

Well as I watch this, I also have my TV on. It is an RCA 24 inch 4:3 CRT ('tube' for you young folks) I inherited from an Uncle in 1983. It was a few years old, so probably actually from '79-'80. Not quite as old as Voyager, but still hanging in there. They really new how to build stuff way back. I would like to see what the data Voyager is sending. Wish it was sending photos.

[@D4NS80]

This is fascinating. I was born in 81. Amazing technology.

[@AZREDFERN]

The further Voyager-1 gets away, the better radio receivers get on earth.

[@duncanmckenzie2815]

Thank you for your video. I have always been fascinated with the Voyager probes and radio communications. For a long time I have been trying to find the schematic diagram of the radio receivers used on the Voyager probes. There is information out there available showing the BLOCK diagram of the Voyager radio communications equipment, but not the actual SCHEMATIC diagram with the individual components used in the radio transmitters / receivers onboard. I would be most grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction as to where the schematic diagrams for the Voyager probes may be available, if they still exist. With best regards to all.

[@caspermotsi6688]

Carl Sagan's persuaded NASA to make one of the most consequential pictures of the voyager mission ( the pear; blue dot), if only NASA could turn one of the cameras ON before power runs out and make another picture of where the space craft is

[@richarddoig1865]

Also, the amount of technology, and computing power in these probes is really minimal. I don’t know how true it is, but I read just a few days ago that the amount of computer output is similar than a modern remote control. Smaller memory than the thumbnail of a phone image, 70 kilobytes( just googled it, not really any computer). That is amazing.

[@platypi_otbs]

Wow. This gave me chills.

[@7_of_9]

Imagine launching a fleet of spaceships over different periods, each one destined to act as a cosmic relay, amplifying signals across unimaginable distances back to Earth. Over time, these ships would form a network reaching far beyond our galaxy-assuming we don’t wipe ourselves out before we even get to receive those signals. If humanity endures, those distant transmissions could someday lead us to new frontiers. After all, Voyager stands as a testament to our capacity for technological marvels and audacious dreams.

[@brianmcguinness9642]

People keep saying that Voyager 1 has left the solar system. It has left the innermost core of the solar system, where the planets are, but it will take thousands of years before it reaches the edge of the Oort cloud and leaves the solar system completely.

[@SoItGoesCAL34]

Cool. Still going strong... an inspiration

[@SuDeep_M9999]

🎉🎉👍🏼👍🏽👍🏿‼️ From India, Earth - the 3rd Rock from our Sun!

[@macklyn]

Truly amazing! NASA rocks!!

[@hisatsinom]

Remember V'Ger , Star Trek Motion Picture ...

[@thibaudmerlin]

Kudos to NASA engineers and equipment designers !

[@RichardCook-on3gf]

The Voyagers and the Pioneers are great achievements.

[@gordonslippy1073]

Best engineering ever.

[@KeyboardBuster]

Talk about the ultimate case of "New Old Stock" tech surprise. A deep space un boxing and ultimate cold start of a vintage radio!

[@bobbates7343]

Old enough to remember when both those little space craft were sent up . I had much more hair on my head then and no hair on by back . Perhaps I am not doing as well as those two space craft

[@elizabeth4053]

So. Maybe Sheldon Cooper was right. There’s a man with a flashlight in space and he hit the reset button 😇😂

[@Veritas-invenitur]

I love this! Great job NASA. I hope we launch a few more long mission probes.

[@hughbarton5743]

Not to belittle this dazzling accomplishment, but a possibly interesting thought. In those days, slide rules were the standard calculator. Further, the ability to destructively test components was in its infancy. So, engineers simply over built everything. This is not a criticism; I had several old engineers in my family, and that was s.o.p.

[@thonatim5321]

I was in 7th grade. We had to watch this on TV on a grainy, black & white 19" TV. We had to write a paper to "guess" what it would find. Then we had to read it out loud in science class. Most kids said it would find aliens. I said it would find the "Little Green Men" on Mars.

[@s1vrbck_fitness]

The g-ring has been eluding man for centuries.

[@MaddogMike-444]

I'm watching this video 23 hours after it went up. 😊

[@42pirhanas]

Everyone should know where their emergency backup transmitter is.

[@stuntgirl56-therachelvande24]

this is the breadcrumb that leads back to earth

[@user-rc7dg3np9c]

You should look back at the size of a calculator in 1977. Amazing really

[@sudhirnaik4751]

I rated it back then, solid state electronics mate, sweet ❤

[@michaelprince886]

Why doesn't the JWST snap a photo of Voyager 1 ? This would satisfy a lot of curious people ✌️💚😃

[@Slowphoton]

An infrared “photo” assuming that JWST can detect the faint heat signal from Voyager. I am not sure if this is possible.

[@Debbie-henri]

Yes, that would be great to see.

[@chrislambert6819]

As a former telescope designer of some of the largest telescopes ever built, I can safely say that this is physically impossible. JWST has nowhere near the resolving ability to image something that small, that far away. Even if it theoretically could resolve it optically, I would not be surprised if the "image" of Voyager would be smaller than a single proton JWST's imager. (Though I didn't run the numbers)

[@Slowphoton]

@@chrislambert6819 a single “photon”, since this is mostly an infrared light instrument. But still way outside the boundaries of the instrument’s capabilities. A nice idea though, in the tradition of the pale blue dot image.

[@jimmyd486]

It took the Alien's 40 years to fix it!