Los Angeles: September 5, 1977 was the historic launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, of the Voyager 1 spacecraft which is now estimated to be on the outskirts of our solar system at 9.7 Billion miles from the Sun. This is the furthest travel of any man-made vehicle launched from planet Earth and away from the Sun. This month, after three decades of flight, it still continues to send back impressive information collected from its various onboard instruments. All these information are relayed back to NASA, Voyager 1 being the pioneer in deep space exploration and the only object from Earth to enter the Sun's domain.
The craft along with sister ship Voyager 2 launched in August 20, 1977 (but have a slower trajectory so it can pass by the planets of our solar system) have sent back images of the outer giant planets in our solar system namely Jupiter, Saturn (not the car, the planet, pictured on left), Uranus, and Neptune and an endless barrage of data not only of our solar system but now, of deep space.
Adding to the vast images and information they have sent back to Earth on their voyage outwards to deep space, these space crafts also carry a wide array of "greeting cards" from Earth. They each have a time capsule complete with greetings, images, and sounds from Earth as well as directions on how to find the planet if the Voyager space crafts are discovered or recovered by something or someone from outer space. The next time Voyager 1 and 2 will encounter another planetary system will be in approximately 40,000 Earth years. An outerspace "message in a bottle" as author Carl Sagan puts it, who was one of the committee members who put together the "Golden Record Images and Sound" golden disk (pictured).
To understand these deep space travel, just imagine a pump-boat or motorized outrigger canoe (Filipino version of a motorized Kayak with bamboo wing floaters) plowing thru the ocean, being tossed by the strong currents. As the ship sails ahead, shocks spread around the vessel. The area under the Sun's influence called the Heliosphere is constantly buffeted by interstellar wind (just like the ocean waves). Voyager 1 and 2 are being bumped into different directions by these strong interstellar wind, and powered by their nuclear batttery cell, cruising speed is at a mind boggling one million miles per day, a rate that will take it from Los Angeles to New York in four minutes flat, with an inexhaustible plutonium fuel system that does not need a Mobil or 76 Gas station for fuel fill-up, these space crafts are just too amazing to comprehend.
Caltech in Pasadena manages NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) which built and operates Voyager 1 and 2 each travelling in two different directions into the Heliosphere, each one sporting an antenna that has a diameter of 230 feet; same size as a football field. Happy 30th Anniversary Voyager 1 and 2. The mission that was expected to last only five years are now celebrating thirty years and counting. These space crafts are entering interstellar space, out of reach from our solar system onto their very long trek towards galaxies unknown. And come to think of it, I thought driving from Pasadena to San Diego is a very very long drive to travel. Mankind when they work together as a team is truly amazing. Godspeed Voyager.
(By Jay Fermin ppp-usa)