Voyager 1 revealed secrets of our universe. Is its time up?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 July 2024
⏱️ 36 minutes
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Summary
Voyager 1 launched on Sept. 5, 1977, during the height of the space age. In the decades since, this unmanned spacecraft has ventured to the outer edges of our universe, sending back one-of-a-kind images and exploring realms that humans will probably never reach.
Voyager 1 is now more than 15 billion miles away in interstellar space, still collecting data and sending it back to Earth. But late last year, Voyager 1 faced its biggest crisis yet. It went silent and stopped communicating. In the months that followed, scientists at NASA launched an all-hands-on-deck effort to find a solution.
Today on “Post Reports,” science reporter Joel Achenbach on Voyager’s journey through space, its fragile future and the desperate effort to keep it with us. We hear from Linda Spilker, project scientist for Voyager 1, and David Cummings, a member of a “tiger team” at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Today’s show was produced by Elana Gordon. It was edited by Peter Bresnan and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Stephen Smith.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, MDS, we have ignition, we have a lift-off. |
| 0:17.0 | On September 5, 1977, Voyager 1 launched into outer space. This unmanned spacecraft would capture the world, our world, |
| 0:28.0 | like nothing else ever had before. |
| 0:32.3 | The Voyager mission is one of the coolest things that NASA has ever done. |
| 0:37.0 | It's been wonderful to watch it unfold over half a century. Joel Ackenbach is a science reporter for the post. |
| 0:45.0 | He's been following Voyager's journey for decades. |
| 0:49.0 | The Voyager One is our scout in the universe. It is leading point for humanity in the |
| 0:56.0 | exploration of the universe. Over the last 50 years Voyager 1 and its twin |
| 1:01.8 | spacecraft Voyager 2 have been drifting farther and farther out into space. |
| 1:07.0 | They've sent back one-of-a-kind images and data about places that humans will probably never reach. |
| 1:14.0 | Voyager 1 is now more than 15 billion miles away from Earth. |
| 1:18.0 | No man-made object has ever made it further into the unknown. |
| 1:23.0 | It's taught us a lot about ourselves, you know, |
| 1:26.0 | who are we, you know, why are we here, where are we? |
| 1:29.0 | What's our position in the cosmic scheme of things. |
| 1:35.0 | Right now, Voyager is flying in the |
| 1:36.8 | interstellar medium into a unique region, |
| 1:40.0 | and so we're getting new information |
| 1:41.8 | about a place that no one has ever been before. |
| 1:44.7 | This is Linda Spilker, Voyager's chief scientist based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in |
| 1:50.5 | California. Late last year, Spilker and Voyager's whole team faced one of the most serious crises in the history of the Voyager program. |
| 2:01.0 | The spacecraft stopped sending back data. It went dark, billions of miles away. |
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