Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years (nasa.gov)

If you tried to start a car that's been sitting in a garage for decades, you might not expect the engine to respond. But a set of thrusters aboard the Voyager 1 spacecraft successfully fired up Wednesday after 37 years without use. NASA announces: Voyager 1, NASA's farthest and fastest spacecraft, is the only human-made object in interstellar space, the environment between the stars. The spacecraft, which has been flying for 40 years, relies on small devices called thrusters to orient itself so it can communicate with Earth. These thrusters fire in tiny pulses, or "puffs," lasting mere milliseconds, to subtly rotate the spacecraft so that its antenna points at our planet. Now, the Voyager team is able to use a set of four backup thrusters, dormant since 1980. "With these thrusters that are still functional after 37 years without use, we will be able to extend the life of the Voyager 1 spacecraft by two to three years," said Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Comments

Not looking forward to starting dad's truck

[Snotnose]

Some 6 years ago us kids decided he couldn't drive anymore, and he wouldn't give up his keys. I swapped a couple of his ignition wires, truck wouldn't start and dad (who used to be an A-1 mechanic) (now with the alzheimer's option) couldn't figure out why.

6 years later dad is still going strong, health wise, is totally gone, mentally wise, and I don't remember which wires I crossed and am not an A-1 mechanic. Plus 4 flat tires, and a truck that hasn't moved in 6 years/

31 years from now? My niece is a useless waste of oxygen who can barely maintain her US-gov mail to keep her welfare coming while she plays video games 24/7. The other niece and nephew are 2,000 miles away and have never been part of dad's life, doubt they could start dad's truck. If I'm alive in 31 years I expect to make a killing on the talk show circuit. Won't be actively trying to kill off oldest person alive, but will be sending thoughts and prayers that they let me be #1 for a week or two.