this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2024
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Voyager space probe closes in on a 50 year mission (www.theregister.com)
submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Voyager uses plutonium 238 which has a half-life of 83 years. So after 50 years, its fuel has decayed too much and it's running out of power. The article didn't make that clear.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Not to be a "snob", but chances are if you know about Voyager 1/2, you probably know that their power supplies are running out. More clarity is never bad though.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I didn't realize this detail about them, and I'm old enough to have read about them like crazy at launch time.

Good info, I'd wondered how they were powered, but never enough to go look it up (I probably knew in 1978, but that was a few years ago).

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

There are actually tons of nuclear power systems like this in space:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_power_systems_in_space