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Damn, they sure built things to last in those days. I can't even wrap my head around the fact that they had enough fuel on board for the thrusters to last 50 friggin' years.
Flyby: the interplanetary odyssey of Voyager 2 (1987) by Joel Davis is a fascinating read about the behind the scenes to get things to work. Back then it was an amazing feat both in the results it gave and how they did it despite lots of problems. That we're still seeing such miracles of science is incredible.
200 pounds of hydrazine is a shitload of monopropellant for a probe that should almost never have to make major adjustments to its alignment.
It is. I'm just surprised they included so much. If you can get by with 100 pounds or 50 pounds, why wouldn't you? Every ounce matters when getting to orbit. No one expected 50 years from these things, did they?
Actually they did. They wanted these probes to be operational as long as possible to continue to transmit the unique data they'll have access to. Nothing has ever been as far out as the Voyagers. Even if its just a vast empty expanse the data is invaluable.
Amazing.
this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
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