VOYAGER Spacecraft - Successful Thuster test

[Phil Perry]

"NASA fires up Voyager's backup thrusters for the first time in 37 YEARS in bid to extend the life of one of the the only two human-made objects in interstellar space"

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...

 

 

[cscotthendry]

Thanks for that link Phil. I wasn't aware of this current activity on Voyager. I have to admit that I don't keep as close tabs on it as I did in 1979

 

 

'Smee on the left

 

Honeysuckle Creek tracking station DSS44 Canberra Australia 1979

 

 

[Birdseye]

Thanks for that link Phil. I wasn't aware of this current activity on Voyager. I have to admit that I don't keep as close tabs on it as I did in 1979'Smee on the left

 

Honeysuckle Creek tracking station DSS44 Canberra Australia 1979

I bet in those days you just thought you were a legend, never that you would one day own one.

 

 

[riverduk]

"After 37 years, engineers this week tried to fire up a set of thrusters on the craft - and they worked perfectly."

 

Of course they did, stuff was built to last in the good old days, not like a lot of the garbage built today!

 

Read more: NASA fires up Voyager thrusters dormant for 37 years | Daily Mail Online

 

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[bexrbetter]

It is almost inconceivable to me that they can send out a radio signal to operate a rocket booster for milliseconds through space millions of miles away through radiation, radio waves, asteroid belts and other elements. Apparently it's real, but the variables must be almost incalculable.

 

Of course they did, stuff was built to last in the good old days, not like a lot of the garbage built today!

Did you just type that with a Datahand Professional 11 $800 keyboard, or a universal $20 one?

 

How long would a manufacturer last if they didn't make what the public purchases. The garbage exists because people have spoken with their cash.

 

 

[riverduk]

It is almost inconceivable to me that they can send out a radio signal to operate a rocket booster for milliseconds through space millions of miles away through radiation, radio waves, asteroid belts and other elements. Apparently it's real, but the variables must be almost incalculable.

Obviously no "failure of calculation" back in the good old days Bex

 

Did you just type that with a Datahand Professional 11 $800 keyboard, or a universal $20 one?How long would a manufacturer last if they didn't make what the public purchases. The garbage exists because people have spoken with their cash.

Sorry Bex, must have hit a raw nerve, The sad truth is that the $20 uni would probably last just as long as the $800 "Ubeaut" special so which is the garbage? I do get your point though, I was, however, commenting more on the fact that back in the day most people took a lot more pride in their workmanship, stuff was just built to last. Today with our "disposable" mindset, its more like, build it as cheap as possible so that when it stuffs up we can throw it out and buy another one, I guess there is just no room for pride in workmanship these days at a manufacturing level. (This is not personal attack, as I believe you may be involved in manufacturing in China, it more of a personal observation, by myself and acquaintances in general terms made over a number of years)

 

The fact that both Voyagers were launched in 1977 and have, not only survived in the space environment , whilst having what you described as, "radiation, radio waves, asteroid belts and other elements,"but continue to be functional, is a testament to the quality of both product and workmanship of these probes and I hope that any person still alive who took part in the manufacture of these probes are justifiably proud of their achievements.

 

As a by the by, I can't see either my $20 uni or your $800 "Ubeaut" special keyboards lasting 40 years in this world, let alone in the same environment as the Voyagers are in