Why doesn't NASA send Voyagers anymore?
up vote
11
down vote
favorite
As for now it's been more than 40 years NASA launched Voyager 1 & Voyager 2. With more advance technology wouldn't it now be a good time to continue sending more sophisticated voyagers out there? Wouldn't it be a good way to gather more data & it will increase the chances of letting them (If they exist) our presence, right?
Did NASA stop sending off probes like that anymore?
space-probe
|
show 3 more comments
up vote
11
down vote
favorite
As for now it's been more than 40 years NASA launched Voyager 1 & Voyager 2. With more advance technology wouldn't it now be a good time to continue sending more sophisticated voyagers out there? Wouldn't it be a good way to gather more data & it will increase the chances of letting them (If they exist) our presence, right?
Did NASA stop sending off probes like that anymore?
space-probe
8
Consider moving to space exploration.
– James K
23 hours ago
5
I don't get what you mean by "it will increase the chances of letting them (If they exist) our presence, right?" Are you talking about Aliens? That wasn't the purpose of the Voyager missions.
– James K
23 hours ago
3
As I recall, the voyager crafts were sent when the planets were properly aligned for gravity assists. That probably doesn't happen very often. I also think we learn a lot more by having spacecraft orbit a planet vs fly by a planet. There's not all that much to gain by sending a probe out of the solar system, not that they should never do it, but it's not a top priority. I would also add that if contact is the goal, a tiny spacecraft isn't a likely way to do it. Sending radio-waterhole transmissions or listening for them is more likely.
– userLTK
21 hours ago
8
The aliens got really pissed and fined NASA 20 trillion spnrgls.
– Bob Jarvis
17 hours ago
3
You need to remember that "out there" wasn't the Voyagers' mission. The "gold record" and images on the spacecraft were just lagniappe ("an extra or unexpected gift or benefit") since they'd be heading out into interstellar space after their mission was complete. I don't suppose anyone really expected they'd still be sending back data 40 years later.
– jamesqf
13 hours ago
|
show 3 more comments
up vote
11
down vote
favorite
up vote
11
down vote
favorite
As for now it's been more than 40 years NASA launched Voyager 1 & Voyager 2. With more advance technology wouldn't it now be a good time to continue sending more sophisticated voyagers out there? Wouldn't it be a good way to gather more data & it will increase the chances of letting them (If they exist) our presence, right?
Did NASA stop sending off probes like that anymore?
space-probe
As for now it's been more than 40 years NASA launched Voyager 1 & Voyager 2. With more advance technology wouldn't it now be a good time to continue sending more sophisticated voyagers out there? Wouldn't it be a good way to gather more data & it will increase the chances of letting them (If they exist) our presence, right?
Did NASA stop sending off probes like that anymore?
space-probe
space-probe
edited 1 hour ago
Pikamander2
1032
1032
asked yesterday
shan
1938
1938
8
Consider moving to space exploration.
– James K
23 hours ago
5
I don't get what you mean by "it will increase the chances of letting them (If they exist) our presence, right?" Are you talking about Aliens? That wasn't the purpose of the Voyager missions.
– James K
23 hours ago
3
As I recall, the voyager crafts were sent when the planets were properly aligned for gravity assists. That probably doesn't happen very often. I also think we learn a lot more by having spacecraft orbit a planet vs fly by a planet. There's not all that much to gain by sending a probe out of the solar system, not that they should never do it, but it's not a top priority. I would also add that if contact is the goal, a tiny spacecraft isn't a likely way to do it. Sending radio-waterhole transmissions or listening for them is more likely.
– userLTK
21 hours ago
8
The aliens got really pissed and fined NASA 20 trillion spnrgls.
– Bob Jarvis
17 hours ago
3
You need to remember that "out there" wasn't the Voyagers' mission. The "gold record" and images on the spacecraft were just lagniappe ("an extra or unexpected gift or benefit") since they'd be heading out into interstellar space after their mission was complete. I don't suppose anyone really expected they'd still be sending back data 40 years later.
– jamesqf
13 hours ago
|
show 3 more comments
8
Consider moving to space exploration.
– James K
23 hours ago
5
I don't get what you mean by "it will increase the chances of letting them (If they exist) our presence, right?" Are you talking about Aliens? That wasn't the purpose of the Voyager missions.
– James K
23 hours ago
3
As I recall, the voyager crafts were sent when the planets were properly aligned for gravity assists. That probably doesn't happen very often. I also think we learn a lot more by having spacecraft orbit a planet vs fly by a planet. There's not all that much to gain by sending a probe out of the solar system, not that they should never do it, but it's not a top priority. I would also add that if contact is the goal, a tiny spacecraft isn't a likely way to do it. Sending radio-waterhole transmissions or listening for them is more likely.
– userLTK
21 hours ago
8
The aliens got really pissed and fined NASA 20 trillion spnrgls.
– Bob Jarvis
17 hours ago
3
You need to remember that "out there" wasn't the Voyagers' mission. The "gold record" and images on the spacecraft were just lagniappe ("an extra or unexpected gift or benefit") since they'd be heading out into interstellar space after their mission was complete. I don't suppose anyone really expected they'd still be sending back data 40 years later.
– jamesqf
13 hours ago
8
8
Consider moving to space exploration.
– James K
23 hours ago
Consider moving to space exploration.
– James K
23 hours ago
5
5
I don't get what you mean by "it will increase the chances of letting them (If they exist) our presence, right?" Are you talking about Aliens? That wasn't the purpose of the Voyager missions.
– James K
23 hours ago
I don't get what you mean by "it will increase the chances of letting them (If they exist) our presence, right?" Are you talking about Aliens? That wasn't the purpose of the Voyager missions.
– James K
23 hours ago
3
3
As I recall, the voyager crafts were sent when the planets were properly aligned for gravity assists. That probably doesn't happen very often. I also think we learn a lot more by having spacecraft orbit a planet vs fly by a planet. There's not all that much to gain by sending a probe out of the solar system, not that they should never do it, but it's not a top priority. I would also add that if contact is the goal, a tiny spacecraft isn't a likely way to do it. Sending radio-waterhole transmissions or listening for them is more likely.
– userLTK
21 hours ago
As I recall, the voyager crafts were sent when the planets were properly aligned for gravity assists. That probably doesn't happen very often. I also think we learn a lot more by having spacecraft orbit a planet vs fly by a planet. There's not all that much to gain by sending a probe out of the solar system, not that they should never do it, but it's not a top priority. I would also add that if contact is the goal, a tiny spacecraft isn't a likely way to do it. Sending radio-waterhole transmissions or listening for them is more likely.
– userLTK
21 hours ago
8
8
The aliens got really pissed and fined NASA 20 trillion spnrgls.
– Bob Jarvis
17 hours ago
The aliens got really pissed and fined NASA 20 trillion spnrgls.
– Bob Jarvis
17 hours ago
3
3
You need to remember that "out there" wasn't the Voyagers' mission. The "gold record" and images on the spacecraft were just lagniappe ("an extra or unexpected gift or benefit") since they'd be heading out into interstellar space after their mission was complete. I don't suppose anyone really expected they'd still be sending back data 40 years later.
– jamesqf
13 hours ago
You need to remember that "out there" wasn't the Voyagers' mission. The "gold record" and images on the spacecraft were just lagniappe ("an extra or unexpected gift or benefit") since they'd be heading out into interstellar space after their mission was complete. I don't suppose anyone really expected they'd still be sending back data 40 years later.
– jamesqf
13 hours ago
|
show 3 more comments
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
up vote
26
down vote
accepted
It does:
Galileo: Launched in 1989, orbited Jupiter for 7 years.
Cassini-Huygens: Orbited Saturn for 13 years.
New Horizons: Fly-by of Jupiter and Pluto.
Juno: Currently in orbit around Jupiter.
NASA (and ESA) have created multiple outer planet probes. But they are costly and there is no reason to repeat what has already been done. So each mission has a different aim and purpose. Often this means not doing a fly-by, but getting the probe in orbit around the planet.
Uranus and Neptune have not been re-visited. They are very distant. Getting a probe out to them is possible. Getting something out to them in a reasonable amount of time and then getting it in orbit is much harder, and they are, perhaps, less intrinsically interesting than Jupiter and Saturn.
The voyagers did carry gold disks, but this was not a serious attempt to contact alien intelligence. It has a symbolic purpose. A record of humanity will exist somewhere in the galaxy long after we are gone.
The gold disks (and their carriers) won't have moved outside of our galaxy by the time humanity is expected to no longer exist?
– horse hair
12 hours ago
6
No, the voyagers are not travelling fast enough to escape from the galaxy's gravitational well, so will remain in the Milky Way. Eventually a stellar collision is possible, but stars are small (compared to space, which is really really big). So the voyagers will travel in the galaxy for billions of years, longer than life will continue on Earth.
– James K
12 hours ago
2
@horsehair Even if they could leave the galaxy, they're moving rather slow. If we ignore they don't have nearly enough velocity (as if gravity no longer affected the probe), galactic distances are rather great. If we assume the Voyager travels in the galactic plane, it would have to cross at least 12 kilo parsecs (which already considers only "X% of stars are in this volume, not interstellar matter or dark matter). That would mean about 700 million years; the known human civilisation has only really existed for ten millennia or so. 700 million years ago, there were no animals on land.
– Luaan
11 hours ago
I like much more that version of the future, that we once find the Voyagers and take it back to home, into a museum.
– peterh
6 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
16
down vote
Like James K's answer details, probes have been sent to the outer planets even after the Voyagers.
However, the specific trajectory used by Voyager missions has not been reused. In fact, it was the specific position of the planets that inspired the whole program, initially called the Grand Tour.
The relative position of the outer planets in their orbits in late 1970's allowed a space probe to visit many of them and to achieve great speeds using a sequence of gravity assist maneuvers. This position only repeats once every 175 years, so it is very likely that future space probes in 2150's will take advantage of it.
7
There's not really much point in a “Grand Tour” trajectory any more. Sure, a mission to the outer solar system will always benefit from a gravity assist from Jupiter, but there's not much another flyby at Saturn or Uranus would gain you. For more thorough science than has already been done, you'll need orbiting probes like Galileo / Cassini / Juno. It's really serendipitous that the Grand Tour was possible in exactly the decade where it was most useful.
– leftaroundabout
17 hours ago
2
Surely the monumental advances in imaging in the intervening 175 years could make another flyby worthwhile.
– nasch
13 hours ago
4
@nasch Hopefully such missions won't be nearly as expensive as they are now, and we can do one as a sort of nostalgia mission. It can be earth's little once-every-175-year tradition.
– corsiKa
12 hours ago
@corsika, using chemical rockets, how quaint.
– prl
10 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
It's a question of science return on investment. As @JamesK's answer notes, NASA has done several orbiters since the Voyagers. You get greater ROI when your probe can stay near the body you're interested and continue to observe it for a long time. The only Voyager type probe in that list is New Horizons, in the sense that Voyager type probes only do a flyby. In the case of Uranus, and points more distant, as @JamesK noted, it's extremely hard to get there in a reasonable time, and then slow down enough to enter orbit. So for them Voyager type probes have an advantage.
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
They never stop sending probes into space they are just in a differnt serries of craft much like an airplane why we don't use the first airplane model any more because we gotten more advance over the years same thing with probes, just got diffent names and differnt missions...
New contributor
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4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
26
down vote
accepted
It does:
Galileo: Launched in 1989, orbited Jupiter for 7 years.
Cassini-Huygens: Orbited Saturn for 13 years.
New Horizons: Fly-by of Jupiter and Pluto.
Juno: Currently in orbit around Jupiter.
NASA (and ESA) have created multiple outer planet probes. But they are costly and there is no reason to repeat what has already been done. So each mission has a different aim and purpose. Often this means not doing a fly-by, but getting the probe in orbit around the planet.
Uranus and Neptune have not been re-visited. They are very distant. Getting a probe out to them is possible. Getting something out to them in a reasonable amount of time and then getting it in orbit is much harder, and they are, perhaps, less intrinsically interesting than Jupiter and Saturn.
The voyagers did carry gold disks, but this was not a serious attempt to contact alien intelligence. It has a symbolic purpose. A record of humanity will exist somewhere in the galaxy long after we are gone.
The gold disks (and their carriers) won't have moved outside of our galaxy by the time humanity is expected to no longer exist?
– horse hair
12 hours ago
6
No, the voyagers are not travelling fast enough to escape from the galaxy's gravitational well, so will remain in the Milky Way. Eventually a stellar collision is possible, but stars are small (compared to space, which is really really big). So the voyagers will travel in the galaxy for billions of years, longer than life will continue on Earth.
– James K
12 hours ago
2
@horsehair Even if they could leave the galaxy, they're moving rather slow. If we ignore they don't have nearly enough velocity (as if gravity no longer affected the probe), galactic distances are rather great. If we assume the Voyager travels in the galactic plane, it would have to cross at least 12 kilo parsecs (which already considers only "X% of stars are in this volume, not interstellar matter or dark matter). That would mean about 700 million years; the known human civilisation has only really existed for ten millennia or so. 700 million years ago, there were no animals on land.
– Luaan
11 hours ago
I like much more that version of the future, that we once find the Voyagers and take it back to home, into a museum.
– peterh
6 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
26
down vote
accepted
It does:
Galileo: Launched in 1989, orbited Jupiter for 7 years.
Cassini-Huygens: Orbited Saturn for 13 years.
New Horizons: Fly-by of Jupiter and Pluto.
Juno: Currently in orbit around Jupiter.
NASA (and ESA) have created multiple outer planet probes. But they are costly and there is no reason to repeat what has already been done. So each mission has a different aim and purpose. Often this means not doing a fly-by, but getting the probe in orbit around the planet.
Uranus and Neptune have not been re-visited. They are very distant. Getting a probe out to them is possible. Getting something out to them in a reasonable amount of time and then getting it in orbit is much harder, and they are, perhaps, less intrinsically interesting than Jupiter and Saturn.
The voyagers did carry gold disks, but this was not a serious attempt to contact alien intelligence. It has a symbolic purpose. A record of humanity will exist somewhere in the galaxy long after we are gone.
The gold disks (and their carriers) won't have moved outside of our galaxy by the time humanity is expected to no longer exist?
– horse hair
12 hours ago
6
No, the voyagers are not travelling fast enough to escape from the galaxy's gravitational well, so will remain in the Milky Way. Eventually a stellar collision is possible, but stars are small (compared to space, which is really really big). So the voyagers will travel in the galaxy for billions of years, longer than life will continue on Earth.
– James K
12 hours ago
2
@horsehair Even if they could leave the galaxy, they're moving rather slow. If we ignore they don't have nearly enough velocity (as if gravity no longer affected the probe), galactic distances are rather great. If we assume the Voyager travels in the galactic plane, it would have to cross at least 12 kilo parsecs (which already considers only "X% of stars are in this volume, not interstellar matter or dark matter). That would mean about 700 million years; the known human civilisation has only really existed for ten millennia or so. 700 million years ago, there were no animals on land.
– Luaan
11 hours ago
I like much more that version of the future, that we once find the Voyagers and take it back to home, into a museum.
– peterh
6 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
26
down vote
accepted
up vote
26
down vote
accepted
It does:
Galileo: Launched in 1989, orbited Jupiter for 7 years.
Cassini-Huygens: Orbited Saturn for 13 years.
New Horizons: Fly-by of Jupiter and Pluto.
Juno: Currently in orbit around Jupiter.
NASA (and ESA) have created multiple outer planet probes. But they are costly and there is no reason to repeat what has already been done. So each mission has a different aim and purpose. Often this means not doing a fly-by, but getting the probe in orbit around the planet.
Uranus and Neptune have not been re-visited. They are very distant. Getting a probe out to them is possible. Getting something out to them in a reasonable amount of time and then getting it in orbit is much harder, and they are, perhaps, less intrinsically interesting than Jupiter and Saturn.
The voyagers did carry gold disks, but this was not a serious attempt to contact alien intelligence. It has a symbolic purpose. A record of humanity will exist somewhere in the galaxy long after we are gone.
It does:
Galileo: Launched in 1989, orbited Jupiter for 7 years.
Cassini-Huygens: Orbited Saturn for 13 years.
New Horizons: Fly-by of Jupiter and Pluto.
Juno: Currently in orbit around Jupiter.
NASA (and ESA) have created multiple outer planet probes. But they are costly and there is no reason to repeat what has already been done. So each mission has a different aim and purpose. Often this means not doing a fly-by, but getting the probe in orbit around the planet.
Uranus and Neptune have not been re-visited. They are very distant. Getting a probe out to them is possible. Getting something out to them in a reasonable amount of time and then getting it in orbit is much harder, and they are, perhaps, less intrinsically interesting than Jupiter and Saturn.
The voyagers did carry gold disks, but this was not a serious attempt to contact alien intelligence. It has a symbolic purpose. A record of humanity will exist somewhere in the galaxy long after we are gone.
edited 14 hours ago
kubanczyk
20816
20816
answered 23 hours ago
James K
32.6k250107
32.6k250107
The gold disks (and their carriers) won't have moved outside of our galaxy by the time humanity is expected to no longer exist?
– horse hair
12 hours ago
6
No, the voyagers are not travelling fast enough to escape from the galaxy's gravitational well, so will remain in the Milky Way. Eventually a stellar collision is possible, but stars are small (compared to space, which is really really big). So the voyagers will travel in the galaxy for billions of years, longer than life will continue on Earth.
– James K
12 hours ago
2
@horsehair Even if they could leave the galaxy, they're moving rather slow. If we ignore they don't have nearly enough velocity (as if gravity no longer affected the probe), galactic distances are rather great. If we assume the Voyager travels in the galactic plane, it would have to cross at least 12 kilo parsecs (which already considers only "X% of stars are in this volume, not interstellar matter or dark matter). That would mean about 700 million years; the known human civilisation has only really existed for ten millennia or so. 700 million years ago, there were no animals on land.
– Luaan
11 hours ago
I like much more that version of the future, that we once find the Voyagers and take it back to home, into a museum.
– peterh
6 hours ago
add a comment |
The gold disks (and their carriers) won't have moved outside of our galaxy by the time humanity is expected to no longer exist?
– horse hair
12 hours ago
6
No, the voyagers are not travelling fast enough to escape from the galaxy's gravitational well, so will remain in the Milky Way. Eventually a stellar collision is possible, but stars are small (compared to space, which is really really big). So the voyagers will travel in the galaxy for billions of years, longer than life will continue on Earth.
– James K
12 hours ago
2
@horsehair Even if they could leave the galaxy, they're moving rather slow. If we ignore they don't have nearly enough velocity (as if gravity no longer affected the probe), galactic distances are rather great. If we assume the Voyager travels in the galactic plane, it would have to cross at least 12 kilo parsecs (which already considers only "X% of stars are in this volume, not interstellar matter or dark matter). That would mean about 700 million years; the known human civilisation has only really existed for ten millennia or so. 700 million years ago, there were no animals on land.
– Luaan
11 hours ago
I like much more that version of the future, that we once find the Voyagers and take it back to home, into a museum.
– peterh
6 hours ago
The gold disks (and their carriers) won't have moved outside of our galaxy by the time humanity is expected to no longer exist?
– horse hair
12 hours ago
The gold disks (and their carriers) won't have moved outside of our galaxy by the time humanity is expected to no longer exist?
– horse hair
12 hours ago
6
6
No, the voyagers are not travelling fast enough to escape from the galaxy's gravitational well, so will remain in the Milky Way. Eventually a stellar collision is possible, but stars are small (compared to space, which is really really big). So the voyagers will travel in the galaxy for billions of years, longer than life will continue on Earth.
– James K
12 hours ago
No, the voyagers are not travelling fast enough to escape from the galaxy's gravitational well, so will remain in the Milky Way. Eventually a stellar collision is possible, but stars are small (compared to space, which is really really big). So the voyagers will travel in the galaxy for billions of years, longer than life will continue on Earth.
– James K
12 hours ago
2
2
@horsehair Even if they could leave the galaxy, they're moving rather slow. If we ignore they don't have nearly enough velocity (as if gravity no longer affected the probe), galactic distances are rather great. If we assume the Voyager travels in the galactic plane, it would have to cross at least 12 kilo parsecs (which already considers only "X% of stars are in this volume, not interstellar matter or dark matter). That would mean about 700 million years; the known human civilisation has only really existed for ten millennia or so. 700 million years ago, there were no animals on land.
– Luaan
11 hours ago
@horsehair Even if they could leave the galaxy, they're moving rather slow. If we ignore they don't have nearly enough velocity (as if gravity no longer affected the probe), galactic distances are rather great. If we assume the Voyager travels in the galactic plane, it would have to cross at least 12 kilo parsecs (which already considers only "X% of stars are in this volume, not interstellar matter or dark matter). That would mean about 700 million years; the known human civilisation has only really existed for ten millennia or so. 700 million years ago, there were no animals on land.
– Luaan
11 hours ago
I like much more that version of the future, that we once find the Voyagers and take it back to home, into a museum.
– peterh
6 hours ago
I like much more that version of the future, that we once find the Voyagers and take it back to home, into a museum.
– peterh
6 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
16
down vote
Like James K's answer details, probes have been sent to the outer planets even after the Voyagers.
However, the specific trajectory used by Voyager missions has not been reused. In fact, it was the specific position of the planets that inspired the whole program, initially called the Grand Tour.
The relative position of the outer planets in their orbits in late 1970's allowed a space probe to visit many of them and to achieve great speeds using a sequence of gravity assist maneuvers. This position only repeats once every 175 years, so it is very likely that future space probes in 2150's will take advantage of it.
7
There's not really much point in a “Grand Tour” trajectory any more. Sure, a mission to the outer solar system will always benefit from a gravity assist from Jupiter, but there's not much another flyby at Saturn or Uranus would gain you. For more thorough science than has already been done, you'll need orbiting probes like Galileo / Cassini / Juno. It's really serendipitous that the Grand Tour was possible in exactly the decade where it was most useful.
– leftaroundabout
17 hours ago
2
Surely the monumental advances in imaging in the intervening 175 years could make another flyby worthwhile.
– nasch
13 hours ago
4
@nasch Hopefully such missions won't be nearly as expensive as they are now, and we can do one as a sort of nostalgia mission. It can be earth's little once-every-175-year tradition.
– corsiKa
12 hours ago
@corsika, using chemical rockets, how quaint.
– prl
10 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
16
down vote
Like James K's answer details, probes have been sent to the outer planets even after the Voyagers.
However, the specific trajectory used by Voyager missions has not been reused. In fact, it was the specific position of the planets that inspired the whole program, initially called the Grand Tour.
The relative position of the outer planets in their orbits in late 1970's allowed a space probe to visit many of them and to achieve great speeds using a sequence of gravity assist maneuvers. This position only repeats once every 175 years, so it is very likely that future space probes in 2150's will take advantage of it.
7
There's not really much point in a “Grand Tour” trajectory any more. Sure, a mission to the outer solar system will always benefit from a gravity assist from Jupiter, but there's not much another flyby at Saturn or Uranus would gain you. For more thorough science than has already been done, you'll need orbiting probes like Galileo / Cassini / Juno. It's really serendipitous that the Grand Tour was possible in exactly the decade where it was most useful.
– leftaroundabout
17 hours ago
2
Surely the monumental advances in imaging in the intervening 175 years could make another flyby worthwhile.
– nasch
13 hours ago
4
@nasch Hopefully such missions won't be nearly as expensive as they are now, and we can do one as a sort of nostalgia mission. It can be earth's little once-every-175-year tradition.
– corsiKa
12 hours ago
@corsika, using chemical rockets, how quaint.
– prl
10 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
16
down vote
up vote
16
down vote
Like James K's answer details, probes have been sent to the outer planets even after the Voyagers.
However, the specific trajectory used by Voyager missions has not been reused. In fact, it was the specific position of the planets that inspired the whole program, initially called the Grand Tour.
The relative position of the outer planets in their orbits in late 1970's allowed a space probe to visit many of them and to achieve great speeds using a sequence of gravity assist maneuvers. This position only repeats once every 175 years, so it is very likely that future space probes in 2150's will take advantage of it.
Like James K's answer details, probes have been sent to the outer planets even after the Voyagers.
However, the specific trajectory used by Voyager missions has not been reused. In fact, it was the specific position of the planets that inspired the whole program, initially called the Grand Tour.
The relative position of the outer planets in their orbits in late 1970's allowed a space probe to visit many of them and to achieve great speeds using a sequence of gravity assist maneuvers. This position only repeats once every 175 years, so it is very likely that future space probes in 2150's will take advantage of it.
answered 18 hours ago
jpa
39113
39113
7
There's not really much point in a “Grand Tour” trajectory any more. Sure, a mission to the outer solar system will always benefit from a gravity assist from Jupiter, but there's not much another flyby at Saturn or Uranus would gain you. For more thorough science than has already been done, you'll need orbiting probes like Galileo / Cassini / Juno. It's really serendipitous that the Grand Tour was possible in exactly the decade where it was most useful.
– leftaroundabout
17 hours ago
2
Surely the monumental advances in imaging in the intervening 175 years could make another flyby worthwhile.
– nasch
13 hours ago
4
@nasch Hopefully such missions won't be nearly as expensive as they are now, and we can do one as a sort of nostalgia mission. It can be earth's little once-every-175-year tradition.
– corsiKa
12 hours ago
@corsika, using chemical rockets, how quaint.
– prl
10 hours ago
add a comment |
7
There's not really much point in a “Grand Tour” trajectory any more. Sure, a mission to the outer solar system will always benefit from a gravity assist from Jupiter, but there's not much another flyby at Saturn or Uranus would gain you. For more thorough science than has already been done, you'll need orbiting probes like Galileo / Cassini / Juno. It's really serendipitous that the Grand Tour was possible in exactly the decade where it was most useful.
– leftaroundabout
17 hours ago
2
Surely the monumental advances in imaging in the intervening 175 years could make another flyby worthwhile.
– nasch
13 hours ago
4
@nasch Hopefully such missions won't be nearly as expensive as they are now, and we can do one as a sort of nostalgia mission. It can be earth's little once-every-175-year tradition.
– corsiKa
12 hours ago
@corsika, using chemical rockets, how quaint.
– prl
10 hours ago
7
7
There's not really much point in a “Grand Tour” trajectory any more. Sure, a mission to the outer solar system will always benefit from a gravity assist from Jupiter, but there's not much another flyby at Saturn or Uranus would gain you. For more thorough science than has already been done, you'll need orbiting probes like Galileo / Cassini / Juno. It's really serendipitous that the Grand Tour was possible in exactly the decade where it was most useful.
– leftaroundabout
17 hours ago
There's not really much point in a “Grand Tour” trajectory any more. Sure, a mission to the outer solar system will always benefit from a gravity assist from Jupiter, but there's not much another flyby at Saturn or Uranus would gain you. For more thorough science than has already been done, you'll need orbiting probes like Galileo / Cassini / Juno. It's really serendipitous that the Grand Tour was possible in exactly the decade where it was most useful.
– leftaroundabout
17 hours ago
2
2
Surely the monumental advances in imaging in the intervening 175 years could make another flyby worthwhile.
– nasch
13 hours ago
Surely the monumental advances in imaging in the intervening 175 years could make another flyby worthwhile.
– nasch
13 hours ago
4
4
@nasch Hopefully such missions won't be nearly as expensive as they are now, and we can do one as a sort of nostalgia mission. It can be earth's little once-every-175-year tradition.
– corsiKa
12 hours ago
@nasch Hopefully such missions won't be nearly as expensive as they are now, and we can do one as a sort of nostalgia mission. It can be earth's little once-every-175-year tradition.
– corsiKa
12 hours ago
@corsika, using chemical rockets, how quaint.
– prl
10 hours ago
@corsika, using chemical rockets, how quaint.
– prl
10 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
It's a question of science return on investment. As @JamesK's answer notes, NASA has done several orbiters since the Voyagers. You get greater ROI when your probe can stay near the body you're interested and continue to observe it for a long time. The only Voyager type probe in that list is New Horizons, in the sense that Voyager type probes only do a flyby. In the case of Uranus, and points more distant, as @JamesK noted, it's extremely hard to get there in a reasonable time, and then slow down enough to enter orbit. So for them Voyager type probes have an advantage.
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
It's a question of science return on investment. As @JamesK's answer notes, NASA has done several orbiters since the Voyagers. You get greater ROI when your probe can stay near the body you're interested and continue to observe it for a long time. The only Voyager type probe in that list is New Horizons, in the sense that Voyager type probes only do a flyby. In the case of Uranus, and points more distant, as @JamesK noted, it's extremely hard to get there in a reasonable time, and then slow down enough to enter orbit. So for them Voyager type probes have an advantage.
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
up vote
7
down vote
It's a question of science return on investment. As @JamesK's answer notes, NASA has done several orbiters since the Voyagers. You get greater ROI when your probe can stay near the body you're interested and continue to observe it for a long time. The only Voyager type probe in that list is New Horizons, in the sense that Voyager type probes only do a flyby. In the case of Uranus, and points more distant, as @JamesK noted, it's extremely hard to get there in a reasonable time, and then slow down enough to enter orbit. So for them Voyager type probes have an advantage.
It's a question of science return on investment. As @JamesK's answer notes, NASA has done several orbiters since the Voyagers. You get greater ROI when your probe can stay near the body you're interested and continue to observe it for a long time. The only Voyager type probe in that list is New Horizons, in the sense that Voyager type probes only do a flyby. In the case of Uranus, and points more distant, as @JamesK noted, it's extremely hard to get there in a reasonable time, and then slow down enough to enter orbit. So for them Voyager type probes have an advantage.
answered 18 hours ago
Sean Lake
2,469716
2,469716
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
They never stop sending probes into space they are just in a differnt serries of craft much like an airplane why we don't use the first airplane model any more because we gotten more advance over the years same thing with probes, just got diffent names and differnt missions...
New contributor
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
They never stop sending probes into space they are just in a differnt serries of craft much like an airplane why we don't use the first airplane model any more because we gotten more advance over the years same thing with probes, just got diffent names and differnt missions...
New contributor
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
They never stop sending probes into space they are just in a differnt serries of craft much like an airplane why we don't use the first airplane model any more because we gotten more advance over the years same thing with probes, just got diffent names and differnt missions...
New contributor
They never stop sending probes into space they are just in a differnt serries of craft much like an airplane why we don't use the first airplane model any more because we gotten more advance over the years same thing with probes, just got diffent names and differnt missions...
New contributor
New contributor
answered 10 hours ago
Matt Andrade
211
211
New contributor
New contributor
add a comment |
add a comment |
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8
Consider moving to space exploration.
– James K
23 hours ago
5
I don't get what you mean by "it will increase the chances of letting them (If they exist) our presence, right?" Are you talking about Aliens? That wasn't the purpose of the Voyager missions.
– James K
23 hours ago
3
As I recall, the voyager crafts were sent when the planets were properly aligned for gravity assists. That probably doesn't happen very often. I also think we learn a lot more by having spacecraft orbit a planet vs fly by a planet. There's not all that much to gain by sending a probe out of the solar system, not that they should never do it, but it's not a top priority. I would also add that if contact is the goal, a tiny spacecraft isn't a likely way to do it. Sending radio-waterhole transmissions or listening for them is more likely.
– userLTK
21 hours ago
8
The aliens got really pissed and fined NASA 20 trillion spnrgls.
– Bob Jarvis
17 hours ago
3
You need to remember that "out there" wasn't the Voyagers' mission. The "gold record" and images on the spacecraft were just lagniappe ("an extra or unexpected gift or benefit") since they'd be heading out into interstellar space after their mission was complete. I don't suppose anyone really expected they'd still be sending back data 40 years later.
– jamesqf
13 hours ago