Voyager 2: Beyond the Heliosphere

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[jacobmarkham]

Simon, we need a James Webb Telescope Megaprojects!!

[thomasfholland]

My dad worked on both missions at NASA/JPL in Pasadena, Ca. At that time he worked on the calculations for the trajectory of both Voyagers. Fun fact: The engineers were told not to make them go farther than Jupiter and Saturn, said that would cost to much! (But the engineers decided that they could do that and still keep their budget.)

[juliadagnall]

One thing I found really cool about the Voyager probes is that they could be reprogrammed while in flight. So when Voyager II reached the outer planets where it is very, very dark (and the craft was going very, very fast because of the gravity assist it got from its loop around Saturn) they were able reprogram it to pivot while in flight and use a longer exposure so it could still take clear images. They basically had to teach it how to take a picture in the dark

[partlycloudy]

The golden records are honestly such a beautiful concept. We, humanity, know it's almost guaranteed that no other civilization will find the records, but still put so much effort into trying to communicate with these hypocritical beings. We did desperately do not want to be alone out here in space, that we made a message in a bottle in an attempt to find anyone out there. It's so beautiful, painfully human to not want to be totally alone

[rvaughan]

The Voyager space crafts have always been my favorites to come out of NASA. I'll be sad the day that both these pieces of technology finally run out of fuel around 2030. Thanks Simon for covering this one!

[francispitts]

I was in high school when this was launched and our science teacher mentioned it in class. We talked about what it’s mission was and I remember someone asking when did our teacher think it would complete it’s initial mission and he said it could continue on into our later years long after college or whatever. He said it probably wouldn’t last much longer than that. Well we’re now about 40 some years later and damn if it’s not still going. It outlived our science teacher, something no one would have believed back in the day. Now it seems it will outlive me too lol. Definitely one of the better investments NASA has made.

[davidmetlesits]

30 years old tech, kept in a barn for two decades, works like a charm after a deep cleaning: presenting the Commodore 64!

[AaronHamm]

Hey, you mentioned the pulsar map!

I've got that tattooed on my chest so I can be sent home when I die in a John Crichton from Farscape scenario!

[MrTexasDan]

I remember the thrill of seeing the Voyager pictures of Jupiter for the first time back when I was 18. The images were so far ahead of what anyone had ever seen. Then The-Gift-That-Kept-On-Giving sent pics of Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Nobody had imagined the breathtaking detail. Simply astounding.

[atlas]

Something I love about any sort of content about Voyagers 1 and 2 is the sombre music that's almost always played. There's such a mysterious sense of amazement when you realise just how far away we've been able to reach.

[garymcaleer]

Great post, Simon. Being 65, I have fond memories of when a big black & white TV on a high cart was wheeled into place and our studies were interrupted to watch the Gemini launches, live. You know this stirred allot of kids hearts including my own. But being a musician from age 4, I left this work to more competent individuals! :^)

[amandajones]

You know how on Star Trek or other sci-fi shows they sometimes show the children in classrooms or museums listening to experts on a video explaining the past? That's exactly the feeling I got watching this video. I could totally see this video being used in the far future or even on a sci-fi movie now.

[MoshpitMaestro]

We know what will happen to Voyager 1 though. It will be picked up by an alien race of sentient machines, upgraded to the point of not only scanning, but converting what it encounters, and then, upon amassing enough information to gain sentience, attempt to return to earth, at which point it will be intercepted first by Klingon battle cruisers, and eventually by the USS Enterprise, under the captaincy of James T Kirk. Because we have all seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture, no?

[vinnypopadop]

I'm proud of him not making and of the typical "Uranus" jokes... I wonder how many takes were needed to not burst into laughing.

[callmebigpapa]

"The chance of the Alien race speaking English, being again Zero" laughed so much !! Fantastic writers you have.

[Beryllahawk]

I've said it before and I'll probably say it every time, but I LOVE how Simon and team geek out over space topics. I really do. It's absolutely wonderful!
Also, I happen to be just a smidge older than Voyager 2 - so the "human age" comparisons were brilliant. Also hilarious - "Gee I haven't accomplished much yet" hahah

One missed opportunity - in all those mentions of probability, not ONCE did you guy choose to say the odds were ASTRONOMICAL. Aim high with the dad jokes y'all! :D

Also, good on Simon for making through that entire section on Uranus without once cracking a smile about the planet's name. A rare thing to see, hahaha!

Man, this video was just SO GOOD. Thank you so much - y'all do fabulous work!

[infiniteagony]

Fun Fact : Since the late 1970s, we've discovered two very inconvenient facts that will most likely render Earth infuriatingly unfindable by any intelligent alien life that happens to locate it.
1. There are likely about one billion pulsars in the Milky Way.
2. Which pulsars point their pulses at Earth change over time in an unpredictable fashion.
Soo we send nudes to our neighbors and then give them wrong address that is just rude

[handsomeblackmuscle]

*"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the universe. That makes us something very special."*
-Stephen Hawkins

[codybailey]

omg haven't even watched the video yet so excited. I have a tattoo of voyager 2!

[notmenotme]

It blows my mind to think in 2022 years time from now, or even 2 000 000 years. The Voyagers will still exist and will still be flying through space.
For those who made the Voyagers, what a legacy! They’ll always live on.