beecee Posted March 31, 2018 Posted March 31, 2018 https://www.techly.com.au/2018/03/21/nasa-just-found-way-fire-voyager-1s-thrusters-37-years-inactivity/ NASA just found a way to fire up Voyager 1’s thrusters after 37 years of inactivity After almost 40 years of inactivity, NASA engineers have managed to fire up the backup thrusters of the Voyager 1 spacecraft, the only human-made object in interstellar space. Voyager 1 was sent into space on September 5, 1977 to study the outer reaches of the Solar System as part of the Voyager program, and the sturdy craft still communicates with NASA to receive routine commands and return data. In fact, anyone can check out the most basic data it transmits in real time on the official Voyager website. Moving at more than 56,000 kilometres per hour, the craft traverses some 1,400,000 kilometres through space each day. Right now, it’s more than 21 billion kilometres away from Earth. The ultimate test was performed this past November NASA’s engineers fired up the four thrusters and patiently waited 19 hours for the results to be transmitted back to Earth. more at link.......https://www.techly.com.au/2018/03/21/nasa-just-found-way-fire-voyager-1s-thrusters-37-years-inactivity/ <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> This action of course was done to align the crafts attena for the continuing transmission of info back to Earth. The craft over the many years incurs external forces due to dust and other stellar debris so it needs to be orientated properly. Incredible stuff! 1
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