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  • Voyager 1

    From JAB@here@is.invalid to sci.misc on Sat Apr 18 21:33:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: sci.misc

    NASA Shuts Off Instrument on Voyager 1 to Keep Spacecraft Operating

    On April 17, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in
    Southern California sent commands to shut down an instrument aboard
    Voyager 1 called the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment, or LECP.
    The nuclear-powered spacecraft is running low on power, and turning
    off the LECP is considered the best way to keep humanity's first
    interstellar explorer going.
    ...
    ...
    Because Voyager 1 is more than 15 billion miles (25 billion
    kilometers) from Earth, the sequence of commands to shut down the
    instrument will take 23 or so hours to reach the spacecraft, and the
    shutdown process itself will take about three hours and 15 minutes to
    complete.

    https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyager/2026/04/17/nasa-shuts-off-instrument-on-voyager-1-to-keep-spacecraft-operating/

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  • From Retrograde@fungus@amongus.com.invalid to sci.misc on Sun Apr 19 09:00:21 2026
    From Newsgroup: sci.misc

    On Sat, 18 Apr 2026 21:33:43 -0500
    JAB <here@is.invalid> wrote:
    Because Voyager 1 is more than 15 billion miles (25 billion
    kilometers) from Earth, the sequence of commands to shut down the
    instrument will take 23 or so hours to reach the spacecraft, and the
    shutdown process itself will take about three hours and 15 minutes to complete.


    That number: 15 billion. It just boggles the mind. And that we are
    able to remain in contact with that device is even more amazing.

    Wasn't long ago that FlatEarthers were again getting headlines. Seemed
    to end around the time that rocketman in America's southwest killed
    himself by dropping from high altitude and pancaking himself on the
    desert floor. Things like this make the idiocy even more real.
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  • From JAB@here@is.invalid to sci.misc on Sun May 3 19:49:16 2026
    From Newsgroup: sci.misc

    On Sun, 19 Apr 2026 09:00:21 -0600, Retrograde
    <fungus@amongus.com.invalid> wrote:

    And that we are able to remain in contact
    with that device is even more amazing.

    Deep Space Network
    230-foot (70-meter) antenna at the Canberra Deep Space Communications
    Complex near Canberra, Australia. https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/somd/space-communications-navigation-program/what-is-the-deep-space-network/

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