Bush pulling the plug on Voyagers?
Apr 4, 2005 11: 28 EST
Voyager 1 is now the furthest human-made object from the Sun. For the past two years or so, Voyager 1 has detected phenomena unlike any encountered before in all its years of exploration, approaching the heliopause border. Penetration of the heliopause will be a first, as it has never been reached by any spacecraft before.
Cutting the cord to go to the moon!
The Voyagers should near it sometime in the next 5 years, crossing an area known as the termination shock. Sending back data, the Voyagers will tell us how bad the shock is, and what to expect when crossing our border to outer space.
Now get this. Washington Post reports today that NASA might shut down the program by October, to transfer the current $4.2 million Voyager budget to President Bush's moon-Mars plans.
Final decisison this month
The scientists are outraged: "There are no other plans to reach the edge of the solar system, now we're getting all this new information, and here comes NASA saying, 'We want to pull the plug,'" said Stamatios Krimigis, a lead investigator for the project since before its launch in 1977 to Washington Post. The agency will make final decisions this month, perhaps by April 15.
Launched in 1977 a few weeks apart, The Voyagers 1 and 2 are now heading out of the solar system, expected to continue to operate and send back data until at least the year 2020. Voyager 1 is now the furthest human-made object from the Sun.
For the past two years or so, Voyager 1 has detected phenomena unlike any encountered before in all its years of exploration, probably entering the "termination shock" - the solar system's final frontier. This darkness of interstellar space is a vast expanse where wind from the Sun blows hot against thin gas between the stars.
Passage through the heliopause begins the interstellar exploration phase with the spacecraft operating in an interstellar wind dominated environment. This interstellar exploration is the ultimate goal of the Voyager Interstellar Mission.
Image of the Voyager courtesy of http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/
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