Monday, September 23, 2013

Voyager 1 Hannah Kerman

The Voyager 1 that was sent into space in 1977 has finally become the first human technology to leave the Solar System! Because it is no longer in the sun's gravitational pull, it is simply coasting as other star's gravity pulls it forward. Because Voyager 1 was sent in 1977 to explore Saturn but ended up going even farther, it no longer takes pictures and it takes 17 hours and 22 minutes for Voyager 1's signals to reach NASA. After the Voyager 1 was sent off in 1977, NASA sent another Voyager up as a "companion," that is now expected to leave the solar system as well, just in another area. The spacecraft is expected to keep sending back data until 2025, but in space, many things can go wrong or right. Overall compared to recent spacecrafts, the Voyager doesn't have very much space and right now, NASA is trying to figure out how to manually override the system and increase the amount of data that can be stored.
I think that this is amazing! As soon as other spacecrafts leave our solar system, we can get more data and more information to see if there are other life forms out there! Who knows what this amazing discovery could bring! Finally, we can begin creating other theories and proving how the solar system began! I think that this is very important also because with more technology and information, younger people in the world can start preparing themselves for when they are coming up with these theories!
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/science/in-a-breathtaking-first-nasa-craft-exits-the-solar-system.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

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