Further than any thing has gone before

The Voyager Spacecraft, originally unleased in 1977, is finally ready to leave our solar system, based on leading specialists.

This years data established from the probe suggests that it’s presently at the very rim of the solar system, which puts it at some 18.5 Billion km from Earth. Because of the extraordinary distance, Voyager’s readings now take 17 hrs to arrive.

If the craft finally does depart our solar system, Voyager will be the first man made ship ever to do so.

In 2004, the craft reached an area of space recognized to scientists as a heliosheath. It is probable that this would be the ultimate point of the solar system, nevertheless it turned out not to be the case. Now, almost a decade later, the craft’s readings are suggesting that the fateful instant may lastly be drawing near.

Actually, the confirmation is so compelling that a few specialists have argued that Voyager is already past the bounds of the space. Professor Bill Weber of New Mexico State University thinks that, due to numerous changes in the craft’s readings (chiefly with regards cosmic ray intensity) Voyager has already left the solar system for pastures new.

“We’re in a brand new region. And all we’re measuring is different and exciting.” He said.

NASA scientist Dr. Ed Stone, who’s worked within the Voyager project since the very beginning, holds with the idea that the craft has yet to exit our solar system. “It is largely any day, however it is also quite a few more years” he says.

It is believed that Voyager cannot be thought to have left the sun’s field until it’s escaped our star’s magnetic influence. Dr. Stone believes that there’s still evidence of this effect in the craft’s readings.

It is estimated to take at the least several months before a definitive announcement is meant on the subject one way or the other.

What’s clear is that Voyager is closer to confines of our solar system than ever before.

“The edge could be somewhat turbulent. We just don’t know,” Dr Stone said. “That is exploration in the end”

The Voyager Spacecraft was designed to record data on the other planets in our solar system, before finally heading out into outer space itself. It complete its initial planetary survey in 1989 and may be drifting through space since then. Its plutonium energy resources will eventually die out in 10-15 years, after which era it will cease to transmit data and simply drift into the mysterious.

SOURCES

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21866532

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23075332