Voyagers Surpass 10,000 Days Of Operation

[Falco Girgis]

Sorry, but AuroEdge posted this over at DCEmu forums and I just had to post it here:

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/images/VgrHeliosphere.jpg
Voyagers Surpass 10,000 Days Of Operation
The intrepid twin Voyager spacecraft, launched about two weeks apart in the summer of 1977 and now heading out of the solar system, continue making history. On Jan. 5, 2005 the Voyager team noted a milestone with a nice round number: 10,000 days since Voyager 2's launch. On Jan. 21, 2005 Voyager 1 also passed 10,000 days.

Both spacecraft are still going strong and are returning valuable science data. Each Voyagers' cosmic ray detector, magnetometer, plasma wave detector and low-energy charged particle detector all still operational. In addition, the Ultraviolet Spectrometer on Voyager 1 and the Plasma Science instrument on Voyager 2 continue to return data. Both spacecraft are expected to continue to operate and send back valuable data until at least the year 2020.

During the journey, the Voyagers flew by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and returned nearly 80 thousand images and more than 5 trillion bits of data. After traveling through space for more than 27 years, Voyager 1 is now more than 14 billion kilometers (94 AU) from the Sun, heading in a northerly direction toward interstellar space. Voyager 2, closer at about 11 billion kilometers (75 AU), is headed on a southerly path toward interstellar space. Voyager 1 is now the furthest human-made object from the Sun, having surpassed Pioneer 10 on February 17, 1998.

For the past two years or so, Voyager 1 has detected phenomena unlike any encountered before in all its years of exploration. These observations and what they may infer about the approach to the termination shock have been the subject of on-going scientific debates. While some of the scientist believed that the passage past the termination shock had already begun, some of the phenomena observed were not what would have been expected. So the debate continues while even more data are being returned and analyzed. However, it is certain that the spacecraft are in a new regime of space. The observed plasma wave oscillations and increased energetic particle activity may only be the long-awaited precursor to the termination shock. If we have indeed encountered the termination shock, Voyager 1 would be the first spacecraft to enter the solar system's final frontier, a vast expanse where wind from the Sun blows hot against thin gas between the stars: interstellar space.

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov
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I figure they've got pretty gas mileage considering they've been moving for over 27 years straight. We're likely if our car lasts us 10 years :D .

[JS Lemming]

Nice, not sure what termination shock is but it sounds koo.

[Falco Girgis]

If I remember correctly that's a point on the outer regions of our solar system where solar winds are pounding against hot plasma or something like that. I'll find out...

[Marx Chaotix]

Where and how do they refuel it? :?