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The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes were launched 45 years ago and now hover billions of miles from Earth. The American space agency NASA maintains contact with the equipment to this day, despite the very weak signal.
By Rutger OttoIt’s almost unimaginable, but Voyager 1 and 2 are currently orbiting about 13.5 billion kilometers and 19 billion kilometers from Earth, respectively.
There are no other man-made objects further away. And the probes float through the dark universe; they never get close.
That NASA is still in regular contact with the probes is therefore quite special. The organization uses radio signals to maintain data exchange. A signal is sent from Earth, which takes over 21.5 hours to reach Voyager 1. A signal reaches Voyager 2 after 6 p.m.
Sensitive antenna registers the weakest signal
The Voyagers are equipped with sensitive antennae capable of picking up signals. Once contact is made, the probes return data with a 20 watt signal. This signal gets weaker and weaker as it travels towards Earth. Once here, the radio signal is barely perceptible.
This is why there are gigantic receivers on Earth so sensitive that they can distinguish even the faintest signal from the noise that surrounds it. NASA uses its Deep Space Network to talk to the probes. There are centers in three places on earth with very powerful radio transmitters and sensitive receivers which together form the network.
The centers are located in Madrid (Spain), Goldstone (USA) and Canberra (Australia). They are dispersed through these places because contact with space probes is always possible, regardless of the Earth’s rotation. The dishes are also located in remote areas, so that the reception signal is disturbed as little as possible by ambient noise.
In the years to come we’ll lose touch
Technically, it would be possible to track Voyagers this way for decades. Yet, over the next few years, we will lose contact with the probes.
That’s because the probes are running out of energy. They are equipped with a nuclear battery which is not recharged. It made no sense to equip Voyagers with solar panels, as the devices travel too far from the sun’s radiation range to recharge.
In recent years, NASA has remotely shut down various instruments, such as cameras, to use the probes in the most economical way possible.
But after 45 years, the Voyager missions, which in 1977 were supposed to last five years, are finally in sight. After Last Contact, the probes will float endlessly through the universe, but NASA will never hear from them again.
