• Buffalox@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    Incredible is the right word, how does this still work after more than 47 years? How do they even still have energy to send and receive signals? That’s one heck of a durable power source. How do the computers and sensors still work? The reliability and durability of these probes is amazing. NASA truly had some reality wizards doing what seems like magic to accomplish this.

    Either that or, aliens have been helping out and repaired it from time to time.

    • tal@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      How do they even still have energy to send and receive signals?

      They’re apparently on their last legs now in terms of being able to keep all the instruments running.

      The Voyagers have enough electrical power and thruster fuel to keep its current suite of science instruments on until at least 2025.

    • GamingChairModel@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      5 months ago

      How do they even still have energy to send and receive signals? That’s one heck of a durable power source.

      It’s literally decaying plutonium-238. And because it decays, it’s putting out less power than when it started. They’ve shut down certain operations to conserve power, and obviously prioritize things like communication back to earth.