Planning for a space mission to last more than 50 years

Short Wave

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🗓️ 3 November 2021

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

In 1977, NASA sent out two Voyager probes to study Jupiter and Saturn. The spacecrafts were designed to last about five years, but they are still, to this day, collecting and sending back data from beyond the solar system. But the Voyager mission is living on borrowed time. Today NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce talks about a proposal for an intentionally long mission - what it would take for NASA to actually plan for an interstellar voyage that would pass research and responsibility down through generations.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:05.0	Hey everyone, Rebecca Ramirez here and right now as you are listening to this, there are two spacecraft sailing through the darkness of space outside of our solar system.
0:16.0	And each has on board a shiny golden record with greetings to aliens in many different languages.
0:23.0	Hello from the children of planet Earth. Hello, I'm Selle.
0:27.0	Hello, I'm Selle.
0:30.0	Hello, I'm Selle.
0:32.0	Hello and greetings to everyone.
0:34.0	Plus, some distinctive sounds of Earth.
0:47.0	Now, I'm talking of course about NASA's twin Voyager probes which were launched back in 1977 before I was born,
0:55.0	but not before NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfield-Boys was born.
0:59.0	Hi, Nell.
1:00.0	Hey, Rebecca.
1:01.0	So, doesn't it just boggle your mind that the Voyagers are still out there taking in data about their surroundings and reporting back to Earth after 44 years?
1:13.0	Completely. 44 years is a long time.
1:17.0	And it's just kind of like how long can they last?
1:20.0	They must have some source of power, but I mean, no source of power is infinite right now.
1:26.0	So, they're powered by plutonium.
1:28.0	Plutonium is the power source.
1:30.0	And researchers have just been trying to make it last as long as possible.
1:33.0	We're looking at which instrument gets to get have all their heaters turned off first because we're just flat running out of power.
1:40.0	That's Ralph McNut.
1:41.0	He works at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
	...

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