NASA powers down science instrument to conserve Voyager 2 power supply

Comments

• stoy@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  They should send a powerbank up to the Voyager.

  …

  Yeah, that is a joke but made me wonder two things:

  1. Say you have the abillity to connect a powerbank to the Voyager, how long would a typical powerbank with 3x 16850 cells be able to power the probe?
  2. Would it be possible to build a proble like Voyager 2, which has a docking port and could accept a space craft that could transfer power to the Voyager 2?

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  • notgold@aussie.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Too cold for batteries but just for kicks; 2Ah(3x3.7V)=22.2watts. Voyagers RTG’s left earth producing about 470watts so that powerbank with 3 x 18650’s would equal about 3 minutes. Not sure what the usage is though so maybe longer, plus the RTG’s power output fades over time so probably longer again.

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    • stoy@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Ah, cool that is very interesting!

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  • shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Too cold for batteries. That, and longevity, is why they used an RTG.

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    • stoy@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Yeah, I realize that, but I just thought it would be interesting to put the energy use in perspective…

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  • possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Why wouldn’t you just send a new device at that point? Also Voyager is actively moving so it would be very hard to catch up to

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    • stoy@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      All good points, and I fully agree with you, I just though it was funny to immagine a space probe charging from a powerbank.

      Then I started wondering how a modern powerbank with modern lithium ion cells would compare to the needs of the Voyager 2 probe, and started thinking of how it could be done.

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