this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
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which would shut down components on its own to safeguard the probe, requiring recovery by the flight team — a lengthy process that carries its own risks.
Uhhh... how the fuck are you planning on recovering it?
Jumper cables.
Makes me wonder how the jumper cables guy is doing.
Hahaha I said the same thing
That bit confused me as well. I'm thinking in case the launch and deployment failed, they could get it back much more easily
This thing launched 50 years ago, it and it's sister probe are farther from earth than anything else by multiple orders of magnitude, they're literally outside the sun's influence. We obviously aren't getting them back so recovery must mean recovery to an operational state
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Thanks for the uplifting news!
When is the next conjunction of planets that enabled the Voyager missions happening and are we preparing for it?
The Voyager mission launched in 1977. If I recall correctly, it takes roughly 80 years for the planets to realign for that purpose. If I didn't misremember, we're about halfway through waiting.
1977....
Roughly 80 years
If I didn't misremember, we're about halfway through waiting.
A bit more than halfway, although sometimes I am shocked by how long ago 1977 was. Wasn't it just, like, 30 years ago or so?
It can't possibly be 49 years ago, can it?
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Tick tock, unfortunately.
The clock ran out years ago. They have been building bridges to New clocks for decades. But yes. Soon it will die, only propelled forward into nothingness and loneliness forever.
Only delusion separates us from the same
would be great to have some solar that would power a beacon or something if it ever entered another star system.
Radiation and cold would have killed any electronics long before it would get to another system. And with the electronics dead, nothing would be able to tell the beacon to activate.
Is there radiation between stars? I'm sure it's cold tho.
Plenty. Unfortunately it's mostly the nasty damaging kind, rather than the sort that can be turned into power. It also doesn't take much damage to add up, when you're dealing with large millennia time scales.
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it would destroy them so when heated and energized they would not work?
Wait does solar power work with other suns? Or just our sun (Sol)? Or just yellow dwarf suns?
Dawg you can shine a lightbulb at a solar panel and it'll generate electricity. Them shits don't care, a photon's a photon
Yes and no. Photons is photons, but solar panels do have varying efficiency by light wavelengths, called spectral response.
as @zalgotext@sh.itjust.works said. it should depend a bit on how its made. there have been things about making panels that would absorb frequencies we have at night. There are trade offs. I was under the impression that the reason plants are green is because they specialize on the red side which is more prevalent and then the blue because its the most energetic or something. Also I was under the impression most stars look basically white but the color thing is based on spectrums that predominate but like when you look at the sun it looks white and even a red star would look mostly whitish.