VOYAGER - 1
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| Voyager 1 |
Voyager 1 is a space probe drifting through the vast, dark and never ending realm in the heavens. One cannot imagine the distance it has traveled,the silence it has observed and how lonely it has been for the past 36 years. YES! 36 YEARS...
Why would you want to know about it? NASA has sent out so many probes... how'd you be benefited from knowing about Voyager 1 ? Basically, what makes Voyager so special?
Speaking on it's "importance"... Voyager isn't just any ordinary probe which collects information and sends it back to our Planet Earth. It is an element of our presence in this universe(at least the Solar System). The probe is out there to make our presence felt! That there are HUMANS living somewhere, that we are more than just curious to know what's out there and that we want to know if we humans have any "neighbor(s)". The probe has provided us with such valuable information and some mind-boggling images that will make you ponder about our EXISTENCE!
Why would you want to know about it? NASA has sent out so many probes... how'd you be benefited from knowing about Voyager 1 ? Basically, what makes Voyager so special?
- THE STORY OF VOYAGER 1
This extra-ordinary piece of equipment(then) was launched by NASA. It was manufactured by JPL or Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The probe weighs about 722 kilograms.The intent was to explore the far reaches of our Solar System which is 1 light years across. The space probe sends data to and receive commands from the Deep Space Network[DSN]. The space probe has flown by Saturn , Jupiter and many and has encountered many other celestial object. Launched on 5th September 1977 the space-probe has been collecting data day-and-night since 36 years,6 months and 6 days(as of 11th March 2014). I don't think it'd be wrong to say that Voyager-1 is our "Cosmic Representative".
Speaking on it's "importance"... Voyager isn't just any ordinary probe which collects information and sends it back to our Planet Earth. It is an element of our presence in this universe(at least the Solar System). The probe is out there to make our presence felt! That there are HUMANS living somewhere, that we are more than just curious to know what's out there and that we want to know if we humans have any "neighbor(s)". The probe has provided us with such valuable information and some mind-boggling images that will make you ponder about our EXISTENCE!
- The Pale Blue Dot
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| The Pale Blue Dot by Voyager 1 |
That is "us"! Everything around you, and on this planet,is that hardly visible point in the frame! That is OUR Planet Earth.... Feel very small right? Voyager 1 took this AMAZING picture on 14th February 1990 from a staggering distance of about 6 Billion Kilometers(3.7 billion miles) Orbiting our star , the Sun within the deep darkness of the space. But the "pond-creatures" I wrote about in my first post still don't care to THINK about it, our existence and our uniqueness! This isn't the view from outside our Solar System or some very far-away place. If we're so "insignificant" on this scale, what would our importance be on a galactic level? HOW much there is to explore! The million dollars you possess is nowhere compared to this spectacle. Now think how small our sphere of thought is?!
- The Sounds Of Earth
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| The Sounds of Earth on Voyager 1 |
The crew behind the space probe Voyager also had something else in their mind. They wanted this probe to make our presence felt wherever it goes. So, they mounted a vinyl record containing almost most musical notes, languages, diversity,etc present on our Planet. It has images, natural and artificial sounds of the diversity on Earth. It's an attempt to make the extra terrestrial life(if any) provide information about our planet and ourselves beforehand. The possibility of this happening is almost negligible. But that's what makes us humans,we don't just give up! We hope for the "best" or at least try to! The space probe is supposed to work until 2025 when it will stop generating enough power for it's components which would certainly be a depressing moment in the lives of those who were behind the project. Because this is the probe that represents us in the vast cosmic "ocean" out there. The ocean we haven't ever physically voyaged. This Voyager, the creation of us human beings is our HOPE . It's our eyes to view the distant stars and stellar beauties.
— U.S. President Jimmy Carter The Blog Post was inspired by Cosmos : A Space-Time Odyssey hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. |