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A comment on NASA to keep its 48-year-old Voyager 2 probe running for yet another year. Parent comment

Re:NASA to keep its 48-year-old Voyager 2 probe running for ... by kvuj on Saturday August 08, 2026 @05:23AM (#49220147)
What? Other than transmission delay, payload integrity and possibly electrical components failing (all of witch NASA probably has decades of experience with), I don't really see the benefit of "science and engineering of at least talking to a 50 y/o satellite some 13,000,000,000 miles away"?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:NASA to keep its 48-year-old Voyager 2 probe running for ... by jojomodding on Saturday August 08, 2026 @06:58AM (#49220613)
They still have scientific instruments operating. These have produced new insight into the last few years, telling us e.g. how large the Heliosphere is. The investment needed to find this out with a new drone would be astronomical (heh) whereas using the existing tools is basically free.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:NASA to keep its 48-year-old Voyager 2 probe running for ... by iberator on Saturday August 08, 2026 @12:10PM (#49223132)
By simply measuring radio data they measured the size of solar system and density around it. super important subject for future Interstellar travel. same with temperature and radiation levels
[ Parent | on HN ]