Hokum-Balderdash Assay

Voyagers 1 and 2 were launched by NASA in 1977. After over 27 years--10,000 days--both spacecrafts are still operational and sending back data from their on-board instrumentation. Both are now on their way out of the solar system, and reaching the edge of what astronomers call the "heliosphere." Voyager 1 is currently around 14 billion kilometers from the sun, while Voyager 2 is some 11 billion kilometers from the same. To get an idea of how far the Voyagers have traveled, note that Pluto, the outermost planet* of our solar system, is "only" 6 billion kilometers from the sun.

The two spacecrafts are so rugged and robust that, according to NASA, they will continue sending back data until at least the year 2020! How these two crafts can have the energy to heat itself and run itself for half a century is incredible. How NASA is able to pick up and amplify the infinitesimally extremely weak radio signals arriving from the Voyagers that far away is even more amazing.

The Voyagers are some of the most successful spacecrafts that humanity has built and deployed. They are living testaments to the ingenuity of man, and the power of rational, analytical, and scientific thought.


Reference: NASA's Voyager site

* Some may have already demoted Pluto and now classify it as a Kuiper Belt Object.