The Voyager 1 spacecraft was launched September 5, 1977. It has now travelled more than 11 billion miles from Planet Earth moving at a distance of 1 million miles per day at 38,000mph. NASA officially announced yesterday that it has now crossed from the Heliosphere and influence of our Sun into Interstellar Space. It is further out from the surface of our planet than any other man made object. With its nuclear power plant and heaters it is expected to be able to transmit plasma data for another 13 years and work beyond that transmitting engineering data back to earth for another 10 years. The transmitter power is about 22 watts or just about as powerful as your refrigerator light bulb.
As someone who authors science fiction books this is truly an amazing human accomplishment. For over 40 years NASA JPL in Pasadena have run the Voyager program. With Voyager 2 heading out in a separate direction this is truly a momentous feat of Earth engineering.
I know that everyday life really has no room for comprehension of what has been done here. But I hope you've taken the time to read this blog and have thought about what is possible for humans like you to create such a machine as Voyager 1. Congrats to the NASA team. I have a feeling that in the coming years there will be even more fascinating news to report.
I would love to hear your thoughts about this momentous occaision. Please also check out my two science fiction novels as well, "SETI" and "SETI, The Journey" with book three in the SETI trilogy "SETI, Conception" now in-work. Go to http://www.frederickfichman.com for more information.
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