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11-12-2018, 02:03 PM
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Re: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System'

Originally Posted by OldGreyFox ->
It's dark.....we couldn't possibly imagine how dark....the sun is now billions of miles away.....There is no heat being radiated from the sun.....we can't even see the sun because it's too dark.....How cold will it be? What is the normal temperature of outer space....How are the solar batteries holding up without the sun's energy?.....How do the electronics work in (not just sub zero) but thousands of degrees below freezing? Not to mention any mechanical equipment...WHY
Some facts that I've garnered :

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...se-for-science

Space is very, very cold — roughly 2.7 Kelvin (-270.45 Celsius, -454.81 Fahrenheit). This is mostly due to a lack of atmosphere and the vacuum-like nature of space — with very few molecules to energetically bounce around, there can be no heat.
https://www.quora.com/How-does-Voyager-1-not-freeze

Electrical heaters are used and located throughout the space craft for additional heating during the missions. These heater are powered by the radioisotopes thermonuclear generators (RTGs).

The Voyager 1 has three radioisotopes thermonuclear generators (RTGs) electrically parallel-connected, mounted on a boom. Each RTGs contains 24 pressed plutonium-238 oxide spheres.

These RTGs are used to heat the spacecraft, and electricity is generated about 470 W of electrical power.
https://scitechdaily.com/nasas-voyag...perature-ever/

Over the last 17 years several heaters have been turned off, dropping the temperature below the originally designed minimum operating temperature of minus 35 degrees Celsius. Currently the operating temperature is slightly below minus 79 degrees Celsius, the coldest this spectrometer has ever endured, but it continues to collect and return data.
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11-12-2018, 11:01 PM
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Re: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System'

Thanks Omah, excellent research.
I think conditions that far out into space are totally beyond our comprehension.....
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12-12-2018, 12:00 AM
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Re: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System'

Originally Posted by OldGreyFox ->
So let's bring this voyager thing down to earth......

So it's flying through space at thousands of miles per hour....
It's dark.....we couldn't possibly imagine how dark....the sun is now billions of miles away.....There is no heat being radiated from the sun.....we can't even see the sun because it's too dark.....How cold will it be? What is the normal temperature of outer space....How are the solar batteries holding up without the sun's energy?.....How do the electronics work in (not just sub zero) but thousands of degrees below freezing? Not to mention any mechanical equipment...

When God bunged us on this small revolving piece of space debris caught in the gravitational pull of the sun, he's not made it easy for us to get off....In fact, I'd say it was damned near impossible....Even for a minute piece of electrical kit about as strong as an empty crisp packet....Hell! not even my new computer will last that long without breaking down....

I think someone's feeding us a right load of Bo!!*cks.....Question is:- WHY
It doesn't use solar power it has a plutonium power plant which will last until 2027(ish) and which generates heat as well as power (apparently - it's in the newspaper reports)

“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” (Douglas Adams)
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12-12-2018, 12:10 PM
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Re: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System'

If it were to return that would answer the infinite question, the ultimate star trek. The information it had collected and stored mind-boggling.
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12-12-2018, 12:29 PM
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Re: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System'

Originally Posted by Cinderella ->
If it were to return that would answer the infinite question, the ultimate star trek. The information it had collected and stored mind-boggling.
Bah! no chance Cinders, it just made it to the other side of the moon and then it was scrapped....
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12-12-2018, 01:55 PM
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Re: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System'

ET might find it and send it home... or it could be knocked back on a return trajectory by a comet or meteorite. Anything is possible.
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12-12-2018, 10:12 PM
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Re: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System'

Originally Posted by Cinderella ->
If it were to return that would answer the infinite question, the ultimate star trek. The information it had collected and stored mind-boggling.
You need to watch the first ever big film version of Star Trek where 'Veeja' returns to earth after hundreds of years intent on destroying us. Veeja of course was Voyager rebuilt by an alien civilization.
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12-12-2018, 10:38 PM
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Re: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System'

Oxygen and other earthly gases turn to solids around minus 218 degrees C, so any cavities filled with air inside Voyager would now be filled with, first a liquid and then a rock........Makes you think doesn't it.....?...
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12-12-2018, 10:48 PM
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Re: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System'

Any kind of battery placed in the freezer (Around Minus 5*C) immediately stops producing electricity because the chemical reaction between the two active ingredients ( Zinc/Alkali Lead/Acid Nickel/Cadmium ) is prevented. Even Plutonium would probably not act in the same way it would in an earth like environment.....After all, plutonium must have another metal or chemical for it to react with? It can not produce electricity by itself......
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13-12-2018, 01:41 AM
20

Re: Nasa's Voyager 2 probe 'leaves the Solar System'

Good questions OGF! The reality is that we are not only interested in what our house (the solar system) looks like, but what the conditions look like once we go through the front door (heliosphere).

So far, the outer reaches of the atmosphere behave (solar wind drops below the speed of sound) and not the empty vacuum once thought, other interesting intergalactic conditions exist. Since one of the instruments stopped working in Voyager 1, Voyager 2 may be able to not only provide us some information about the conditions outside the solar system, it will give us a better idea of what’s going on beyond our little bubble.

This data is being used as a platform for an even bigger project about to be launched called IMAP that will help us better understand how the heliosphere works in protecting us from cosmic rays. That protection is one of the least understood and most important phenomena in our existence. We simply don’t know how the doors, windows, and roof protect us so well.


The use of RTGs to power objects in space is a favorite method for satellites and exploration craft because it is so simple and dependable. Besides using long lasting stable isotopes to produce heat (alpha particles given of in decay bounce around and create heat), RTGs contain no moving parts. They actually depend on the super cold environment in space that you mention to produce electricity.

As OMAH shared, the RTGSs are made up of thermocouples that employ the Seebeck Effect, which voltage is generated when two dissimilar conductive metals are in contact. One end of each thermocouple is placed next to a hot isotope and the other is connected to a heat sink in the cold of space. The temperature difference between the conductive material creates the needed electrical energy. The isotope decay in the RTGs will probably last up to a hundred years or so, but the electricity use to power the remaining three units is dropping at about 4 watts a year, which is why the others have been turned off one by one. The ones chosen to remain are the ones that indicate non-visible wavelengths.

Knowing who we are and why we are, are some of the big questions. Invariably, these kind of explorations also give us technology that is helpful in everyday living.

It's reaaaaaaalllly good stuff!

(Good grief I hope my wordy, nerdy style hasn't killed yet another thread. Carry on ).
 
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