NASA Reestablishes Contact With Voyager 2! Where Is It Headed Now?

NASA Reestablishes Contact With Voyager 2! Where Is It Headed Now?

Mankind has been looking up at the stars for centuries, wondering what lies out there in deep space, and if there are other civilizations like ours that exist. We started using telescopes, but when that wasn’t enough, advanced technology led to the creation of space probes so we could get a better look at our solar system and beyond.

The Voyagers are two of the most iconic spacecraft mankind has ever invented and launched into space, and they’re still out there hurtling through the cosmos.

And after 7 months of silence the amazing Voyager 2 once again called back home top Earth.

Now get ready to find out more about these amazing spacecraft, the incredible things they found, where they are now, how far they have traveled away from us, and what is in their future.

We are on social media:

The Destiny voice:

[tomdickinson]

My first wife and I were married for less than 2 years when we started working at a small company out of Farmington Michigan called Computer Engineering. The founder/Owner was able to obtain several contracts with the US government which kept us quite busy. I worked on a Stereo graphic plotter, which was used in Flagstaff Arizona at the Defense Mapping Agency. Another contract was Assembling the wiring harnesses for the voyager one and two projects. It’s funny to think that those harnesses lasted longer than the company who provided them and, at 72 years old, they may even outlast me. It’s nice to think that something I worked on so long ago, is still working to this day. Of course, I did build my first computer and it’s still working today…if I could only find it. 😁🇺🇸

[sergioreyes]

It fills me with a quaint and nostalgic sadness to think of these spacecraft being so lonely, so utterly alone in deep space. And yet, still working when when commanded to do so. These are our emissaries to the stars.

[nickllama]

I was a young lad when they launched the Voyagers, and I watched the launch on TV (not live, I lived on the other side of the world), and I was so amazed by what we were doing. That we were going to send space craft that wouldn't start reporting back for years and even DECADES later. It was mind boggling.
And now they're in interstellar space (and have been for a long time). It's incredible to think about.

[RedGuardian]

Not a bad technological achievement for a relatively "young species" when compared to the overall age of the entire universe.

[justaguy]

it's astonishing to me that within the space of my lifetime we crafted two devices and sent them on a journey well beyond our solar system, and they're still working 44 years later, sending us data from interstellar space.

[drock]

12+ billion miles and not a scratch that's a fine example of just how big even the known universe is

[pamus]

For those who dont know 57kbps is AWESOME speed for the 70s.

[h.dejong]

We didn't lose contact. Every day, we kept receiving data from Voyager 2. The only thing we couldn't do was send new commands to Voyager 2 because the transmitter was being replaced.
3:38 Currently, tape recorder playback is done at 1400 bits/s. This occurs once every 6 months. Playback at this speed requires the use of an array of a 70 m antenna with 3 34 m antennas, i.e. all of the large antennas at a DSN complex.
9:50 Each of the three DSN complexes has one 70 m antenna, not just Goldstone.
10:38 Voyager 2 is visible only from the Canberra DSN complex, because the spacecraft is South of the ecliptic plane. The transmitter on the 70 m antenna (DSS 43) at Canberra had to be replaced. And why are you showing random clipart instead of a photo of the actual antenna?

[carlharrison]

Im such a child, I still laughed when he said the voyager took a photo of uranus.

[Naymy]

I just find it mind blowing that some of the most advanced tech ever made has less processing power than my mobile. Yeah, I know technology improves over time and technically those probes aren't "advanced tech" anymore, but still, it is impressive when you hear the numbers. Makes you wonder what we could do now if we launched Voyager 3 and 4 to visit the outer planets with the intention of measuring what lies at the edge of our solar system and beyond.

[mikef-gidg]

I started my computer career one year before the launch of both craft. I started in magnetic tape to be specific. When they talk about the capacity of the recordings, that sticks right to my bones. Reel to reel was the thing. Those numbers were ground breaking back then. A lot has happened since then, is a massive understatement today. But some reel to reel 1970's two off technology, that is still working today, off script is mind blowing!!! When I tell my younger counterparts that some of those dirt slow computers made back then, which can't compete with modern technology of today, would survive far longer that what is made today...THIS IS WHAT i AM TAKING ABOUT. Amazing!

[Speedluke]

Interesting to think about the fact, that whatever we launch into deep space, when and if it is found we are so far more advanced than that probe...

[obiwanshinobi]

It's amazing that the technology we have today doesn't last as long as these probes 🤦‍♂️

[OCRay]

I can’t believe that I was only a couple months old when these two launched and we are still talking to the Voyagers. It’s amazing!! Really cool. Hopefully some alien species will return them to us some day.

[MikoTP]

I really need to stop humanizing these space crafts/probes coz I keep thinking how sad it is to be alone in space and continuously float further and further away from earth. Just like how previous crafts and probes executed their last mission before either dying out of energy or plunging into a planet's atmosphere. Nevertheless, Voyagers 1 and 2 did and are still doing a really great job for science! Nice to hear some updates from them!

[phishfearme]

we've heard back from a civilization who successfully played the gold-plated record. their response: "send more Chuck Berry"

[majtom]

Its just amazing how much Voyager has contributed to our knowledge base. What really smart engineers designed and built Voyager. I could only imagine their amazement.

[pmgodfrey]

Launched in 1977 and still communicates with earth. Meanwhile, I can't get a good cell signal in my house and my ice maker works like 12% of the time.

[BigBalthazarr]

anyone else want to acknowledge how impressive the power supply is to keep everything running over decades?

[bqejgef]

Uhh, sorry to tell you this, but Kbps doesn't stand for kilobytes per second, it stands for Kilobits per second. The abbreviation for either being bits = b, bytes = B.