wyso: : Science Thursday: December 30, 2010 (2011-12-30)

My dad was a fancier of antiques. Old chairs in particular caught his fancy, but an antique chair that you couldn't sit in wasn't of much value to his estimation. That regard for functional objects from former years was passed down and has landed in my basement where there is a collection of audio equipment which includes a record players with no wires or batteries operating on human enthusiasm and a crank. But all of this stuff works. If it isn't functional when it shows up, it gets fixed.

In 1977, a pair of Voyager spacecraft were sent on a journey designed to explore our solar system, and explore it they have. Detail included volcanos, rings, geysers and moons, to name a few. They composed a rich addition to our knowledge of our solar neighborhood.

An interview with Ed Massey, manager of Voyager's interstellar mission indicates Voyager I is still working and sending back data from a distance 3 times that of Pluto. As it progresses even further from home, it carries audible and pictorial samples of life here on Earth should it one day be encountered by some beings out there somewhere. The Voyagers transmit data at a rate of 160 bits per second compared with the 1MB rate of modern space probes. Their on board computers contain less memory than a modern camera card, but they still work.

The year 2020 is projected as the end of their usefulness. There's some talk of shutting down the Voyager operation to make way for the anticipated moon and mars activity. I sure hope that doesn't happen. Here is something that is very old that still works. Dad and I luxuriate in that concept.

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