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AkaSci

While we were not watching, the Voyager 1 spacecraft underwent another surgery.

In August, V1 switched thrusters used for orientation control, because the fuel tubes in the thrusters had clogged up with residue.

To perform the switch, the thrusters had to be warmed by turning on its heaters while turning off another set for an hour.

All very tricky and risky operations, performed from 22.8 light-hours away on 1970’s era hardware.

Kudos again to the Voyager team.

blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024/09
1/n
10 September at 23:18 | Open on fosstodon.org
13 comments
Meri/The Reckoning

@AkaSci this is such a cool thing! 😎

10 September at 23:19 | Open on mstdn.social
AkaSci

Both Voyager probes are powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which convert heat from decaying plutonium Pu-238 into electricity using thermocouples.

In 47 years, power levels have dropped by over 50%. Many instruments and heaters have been turned off.

The thrusters enabled in August were cold and had to be warmed up before turning on. One of the main heaters in the spacecraft was turned off for 1 hour, since it was risky to turn off any other subsystem.
👏

2/n

Both Voyager probes are powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which convert heat from decaying plutonium Pu-238 into electricity using thermocouples.

In 47 years, power levels have dropped by over 50%. Many instruments and heaters have been turned off.

The thrusters enabled in August were cold and had to be warmed up before turning on. One of the main heaters in the spacecraft was turned off for 1 hour, since it was risky to turn off any other subsystem.
👏
10 September at 23:33 | Open on fosstodon.org
AkaSci

Voyager uses Hydrazine thrusters for attitude (orientation) control, not gyros or momentum wheels.

There is enough Hydrazine to last until 2040 for V1 and 2048 for V2. But more likely, fuel line clogging and loss of power will end the mission in the 2030s.

The spacecraft contains 2 sets (branches) of 6 attitude propulsion thrusters and one set of 4 trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) thrusters. In Aug, V1 switched from the TCM set to a previously used set.

ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19
3/n

Voyager uses Hydrazine thrusters for attitude (orientation) control, not gyros or momentum wheels.

There is enough Hydrazine to last until 2040 for V1 and 2048 for V2. But more likely, fuel line clogging and loss of power will end the mission in the 2030s.

The spacecraft contains 2 sets (branches) of 6 attitude propulsion thrusters and one set of 4 trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) thrusters. In Aug, V1 switched from the TCM set to a previously used set.
10 September at 23:52 | Open on fosstodon.org
Mikal with a k

@AkaSci

This is all vastly more interesting than that other thing that seems to be clogging the timeline at the moment.

11 September at 1:24 | Open on sfba.social
Bob Tregilus 🐧 📷

@AkaSci The Voyagers are amazing! Thanks for the report!

11 September at 1:28 | Open on fosstodon.org
DELETED

@elaterite @AkaSci just amazing isn't it. A little beacon of hope in what human ingenuity can achieve.

11 September at 3:46 | Open on fosstodon.org
Tursilion

@AkaSci I'm so jealous that the Voyager team gets to work with retro hardware and get paid for it, instead of just for fun. ;)

11 September at 7:00 | Open on furries.club
xaph but smaller 🐁

@AkaSci without the thrusters, it would no longer be able to orient the antenna towards earth and so we'd lose contact, hence mission end, is this correct?

11 September at 9:09 | Open on meemu.org
Nebil Arega

@AkaSci My 4 AM brain read it as light years, and I thought worm holes 🤔. Cool article

11 September at 1:24 | Open on cyberplace.social
Tom

@AkaSci the Voyager program is really a modern cathedral project. Whole careers have been spent devoted to this work. An entire generation has worked on it at this point, handing off to successors who may well see their grandkids taking up the work.
Amazing

11 September at 2:06 | Open on nerdculture.de
Incident Creator ❎
8Petros [2late 2die young]_
That's one heck of solid engineering.
11 September at 9:16 | Open on petroskowo.pl
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