Glenn FleishmanApr 30, 2023

Missed the exciting news that the boffins at NASA JPL have figured out a way to use reserve power to keep using all the scientific instruments on board Voyager 2 for even longer. For a mission that only had a requirement to last until about 1982, job well done. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-voyager-will-do-more-science-with-new-power-strategy

Several years ago, I wrote extensively about space probes, including *six* articles about or involving the Voyager probes! https://glog.glennf.com/blog/2017/8/4/if-you-love-voyager-like-i-love-voyager

NASA’s Voyager Will Do More Science With New Power Strategy

The plan will keep Voyager 2’s science instruments turned on a few years longer than previously anticipated, enabling yet more revelations from interstellar space.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
Show threadBearG
@glennf My favorite note about the Voyager series was about the company president of TRW (which I was an employee of), which did a lot/all of the work in building the Voyagers. As the probes went farther than expected, the TRW president sent out a whining email to all/most of the company, bemoaning the fact that the probes were built to REALLY exceed the government requirement. At that time,TRW was known to "gold plate" all of their satellites, which were usually First of their kind. He wanted it to fail after 1982.
Apr 30, 2023 at 9:52pmWeb
Show threadLéon PlankenApr 30, 2023
@BearGriffin @glennf despite that president, sounds like a great place to have worked!