How Do We Communicate With The Voyager Space Probes?
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From what the craft is, to the reaches of space it's reached, and what science we use to talk with it, join me as we explain how we communicate with the Voyager Space Probe!
Space is a place where we know a lot, and yet know very little. Through our various technologies we have crossed many boundaries, seen planets and wonders that continue to marvel us to this day, but we only know a small fraction of the universe as a whole. This is why we rely on things like the Voyager Space Probes to go out into the universe and deliver us information that we didn't have before, and hope that they last as long as possible so that we can keep getting that info.
For those that don't know, Voyager 1 is a probe that humanity sent out to observe the universe at large, and it's currently well past Pluto and has shown us many things about our solar system. In 2017, it was set at around 138 AU's from our planet. AU means "Astronomical Unit", which means the distance from the Earth to the Sun. So 138 AU's means that it's 138 times far than the Earth is from the sun right now. That's a really big number. Over 12 billion miles to be exact. That's the farthest anything from man has traveled in space.
One of its crowning achievements was a photograph showing a set of sunbeams, and in one of those sunbeams was earth. It was a dot. A dot in a grander scale photograph of our solar system. That's how small we are in the scale of our system when you look from the outside in, we are a dot. An epic dot, but a dot no doubt.
As for Voyager 2, despite it launching BEFORE Voyager 1 (by 16 days), it was set on a similar mission to explore the solar system. Albeit via a different route that took it past Neptune and Uranus. The point here is that these two probes are the farthest things that humanity has sent into the solar system. They have traveled incredible distances and are still revealing things about our solar system that continue to both boggle the mind and astound us.
One of the most important things about these particular probes right now is that they are in Interstellar Space, meaning that they are indeed beyond our solar system, and they're seeing all sorts of interesting things and helping us learn even more about our universe. But of course, that raises a very fundamental question in terms of science and distance. If the Voyager 1 & 2 are in Interstellar Space...how the heck are we communicating with it? Distance matters in communications as we all know, and the farther you travel from a point the harder it is to communicate. So since we're not just talking about space, but outside of our solar system via interstellar space...how are we reaching the probes?
The simple answer to that is the "Deep Space Network", also known as the DSN. This is a series of radio antennae that work together to not just send signals into space, but receive the signals from the craft, and even give it instructions on what to do next. Just as important though is this, the network of antennae are all over the world.
There are DSN locations near Canberra, Australia; Madrid, Spain; and Goldstone, California. Those sites are almost evenly spaced around the planet. That means as the Earth turns, we never lose sight of a spacecraft. Which is obviously very important when it comes to mapping out the universe and knowing where all of your biggest assets are.
We've been using this system to detect the Voyagers 1 & 2 since their launch, and clearly they are effective. But...I'm sure you're not getting all of your questions answered, because I'm sure you're noticing a flaw in this plan. Mainly, we have a big set of satellite antennae here on Earth, but the probe itself is rather small, so how does something that small beam signals back to these antennae?
Well, honestly, you're thinking of it a bit backwards. You see, to make the Voyager Probes worth it in terms of scientific study as well as a long-term investment, both of them had to be outfitted with as many scientific instruments as possible. Some of which are still working today despite them being VERY old.
Anyway, when it came to the communications system, NASA had to make a compromise. The system on the probes itself is honestly very small. So much so that they send only the weakest of signals back to Earth, which would usually be a problem. Except...to counter this, NASA and others around the world made very BIG antennae in order to make sure that they were seeing their craft at all times and getting their signals. So despite the signals being weak, the long reach of the antennae ensure that we always receive the signals as a whole.
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