Voyager - Exploring our Neighborhood in the Universe

Space exploration is something that can truly capture the imagination. Whether it's visualizing aliens visiting us or living on other worlds, or just how many planets may be orbiting the numerous stars that are scattered across the night sky, it really brings a sense of wonder.

Yesterday's post about the space shuttle inspired me to look a bit further into our space endeavours, and it reminded me of something else that started in the 1970s. Something that, believe it or not, is still going on.

That would be the Voyager 1 & 2 space probes that are currently wandering just outside our solar system, beyond the orbit of Pluto.

(Thanks to SpaceToday)

What a captivating thought. Something that we created and launched in the Summer of 1977 is still out there, having left our solar system and now currently in the Heliosphere (where the solar wind is slowed down by the pressure of interstellar gas). They will, at some point in the future, break through even this barrier and will enter truly interstellar space.

Believe it or not, we're actually still getting data from both of these probes.

Sure, the images have stopped. The last image received from the Voyagers came to us on February 14, 1990 (many thanks to the Voyager Timeline on the Voyager site for the date). On their trips out of the solar system, they visited most of the planets in the outer orbits of the solar system, returning some truly stunning images of Jupiter and Neptune.

(Storms on Neptune, taken by Voyager 2 - thanks to League of Reason)

Both probes interacted with Saturn as well, sending back remarkable images (the following two shots taken from the Voyager page on Saturn, check that page for other gorgeous shots)

(View of Saturn as Voyager approaches)

(False colour image of Saturn's rings as taken by Voyager)

It's so hard to believe that 1970s space technology is still running today, even so far away from home. The Pioneer 10 and 11 probes, which Voyager 1 passed a few years ago as the furthest man-made object ever, are long-dead. But the Voyager probes keep going on, and may go on for many years yet.

It's too bad that they are beyond the ability to send pictures now, but the wealth of scientific data about the area beyond Pluto is still invaluable. Then again, there may be nothing to see except gas, if it's visible at all. Can you imagine the starscape, though?

The Voyager probes are also pretty famous for what's on them as well as their scientific equipment. Both have a "Golden Record" with greetings, images, and sounds from Earth. They contain 115 images, and numerous nature sounds of Earth, such as rolling surf, wind, birds, etc. The greetings are in 55 languages, from ancient Akkadian to Wu (a modern Chinese dialect). Also included is 90 minutes of music.

While it will be 40,000 years before either probe reaches another star, who knows? Some passing transport ship might happen upon it, and we'll have met our first aliens! It's a true "message in a bottle."

Over the years, the Voyager mission has always intrigued me, but I've lost sight of it and stopped paying attention. Not anymore.

I'm bookmarking the Voyager site, checking back frequently, and going to see if there is an option for subscribing to updates.

Because this is seriously cool.

A Space Shuttle Celebration

For those of us at a certain age, the space shuttle represents the United States space program. We were kids when the shuttles first started their regular trips into orbit to run experiments in zero gravity or deploy satellites or whatever they were going to be doing.

We were too young for the Apollo space flights and Moon landings, and even the space station didn't really capture our awe of the universe and what might be out there. Perhaps that's because, while the shuttles would never go further than the space station, at least they were vehicles that were reaching for the stars, even if they never actually got there.

When the final shuttle mission ended last Summer, with Atlantis touching down after another trip to the space station, I have to admit I felt a little sad.

(Thanks to The Word of Ward)

Something that had been around since my childhood, the public face of NASA, was now no more.

Yes, there are still plenty of cool things going on in the space program, including ongoing images of Mars from the various robotic missions that have been sent up there (though mysteriously, a number of mishaps have prevented even more Mars exploration, such as the Mars Polar Lander crashing in 2005).

But unless you're really into space science, you really don't hear about all of that stuff unless something happens, which may prompt a short blurb on the news or in the newspaper. The shuttle was it.

I remember watching with rapt attention whenever the shuttle was going to be launched. It was just such a cool thing to see that huge blast of gas and exhaust as the rockets fired and the long torpedo-like fuel tank that dwarfed the shuttle itself slowly rose from its station.

(Thanks to How Stuff Works)

It carried a majesty that was hard to compare to anything else going on in our lives.

I also remember the horror when I heard that the space shuttle Challenger had blown up 73 seconds into its flight on January 28, 1986. I was fifteen, in my first year of high school. I don't remember exactly how we were told, unfortunately. It may have been an intercom announcement. It may have just been buzz around the school. It was being followed because school teacher Christa McAuliffe was on that flight. It was a tragedy no matter who was on it, of course, but it hit home for us a little more because one of us were on the flight. Astronauts were heroes, but we couldn't always relate to them. But a teacher? Somebody like our Biology teacher, who we could have known? That really hurt.

After a hiatus while they checked into safety procedures and reworked things, shuttle flights continued, and they almost became passe. That's a shame, because the engineering prowess it takes to do any of this stuff, whether it's getting them ready for launch or docking with a moving object in space or whatever, is simply phenomenal when you think about it.

And now the shuttle is done. The shuttle Discovery is preparing to make its final journey, to the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Carried as always on the back of a trusty 747 airplane, the same way it habitually made its trip from its landing zone in California back to where it launches in Florida.

(Thanks to the Daily Mail UK and, of course, Reuters)

Hopefully it will capture the attention of youth who go there for many years to come.

Of course, there are the old arguments that have probably been going on since the Shuttle program began: is this a good way to use our space resources? Does this move our attempts to explore the solar system and the galaxy forward at all? Why can't we go back to the Moon and, later, Mars and even further? Does the Shuttle program represent stagnation?

All of those questions and argument are valid.

But as the shuttle goes off into Smithsonian retirement, those aren't the questions that come to mind right now.

Instead, I wonder if anything in our space program will ever capture the attention of the public again. Will we ever see another spectacle that will wow us? That will keep us glued to the news when it launches or when whatever it is happens? That will renew the enthusiasm for space exploration that the Apollo missions and the shuttles did when they first started?

I truly hope so.