NASA’s Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have been transmitting data back to Earth for almost 50 years
A OPINION By Frederick Sinclair
It was late summer 1977 when Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 took to the sky; destination, deep space. Never before explored, the destination, that which lays beyond the space influenced by our Sun.
The Heliosphere, is like a bubble containing the entire solar system, intense gravitational fields, solar winds and myriad forms of radiation, meteors, and charged particles. The point at which the Sun’s influence stops, and deep space begins is a barrier referred to as the Heliopause, where solar winds merge with interstellar space beyond which, up until recently, there was only conjecture. The two spacecraft took advantage of a planetary window and an orbital pattern that occurs once every 176 years. This synchronicity enabled the Voyager twins to take establish trajectories which would use planetary gravitational pull to slingshot the spacecrafts, like a monkey from one vine to another, from one planetary orbit to another, reaching speeds never before attained. The sophisticated array of sensors aboard the crafts produced volumes of new information on the planets as they looped around them. While both examined planets on their way to deep space, Voyager 1, however, was to take the express route to the Heliopause and beyond. Both attained the speed of 38,027 mph which was needed to escape the sun’s gravitational pull.
The Voyagers were not able to use solar power as they moved away from the sun toward their destination 15 billion miles away. Currently, radio signals and data transfer takes 22 hours one way. The crafts are powered by three nuclear powered thermocouples that, at launch, produced 474 watts of power and are still providing 230 watts after almost 50 years. The thermocouples also produce enough heat to protect the spacecraft and equipment from the deep freeze of space. There have been numerous challenges faced by NASA technicians, in keeping the 12 foot dish pointed at the earth from billions of miles away. Advancements in computer technologies have resulted in more than 4 decades of successful troubleshooting and creative reprogramming. Some of the on board equipment has been shut down to conserve energy but a select group of the critical sensors are expected to continue transmitting data until the spacecraft is simply out of range.
The data received by mission control, since Voyager 1 has left the Heliosphere and entered deep space, has revealed some unanticipated physical characteristics of the makeup of deep space. Instead of empty, it is teeming with dense cosmic particles, plasma like streams and what was originally considered static noise and cosmic background sound. Voyager 1 went completely silent for a period, during which it mysteriously underwent a torque rotation and orientation change toward a void like, very dark anomaly. This unexplained phenomenon had previously been observed from earth by radio and space telescopes. After coming back online, Voyager transmitted unusual and unrecognizable data streams that were run through modern quantum computers running AI pattern recognizing software. They were found to contain patterns and repetition, pulsing, tempo and structure. The unnatural drift in signal patterns was not random. There was no pinpointed source of these ‘signals’. Initial analysis by astrophysicists opined that it appeared as though the dark ‘void’ of deep space itself was the source and a consciousness had ‘winked’ or in some way was reacting to the presence of Voyager. To the astonishment of astrophysicists, NASA scientists and the insiders who were keeping these observations under wraps, the high strangeness of the deep space discoveries kept getting deeper. Earth based radio telescopes turned to the distant coordinates of Voyagers new found orientation and recorded more of what appeared to be chaotic and meaningless cosmic noise. The running of these signals through pattern recognition AI systems, used in CERN subatomic particle collision analysis programs, astounded the scientific community. The subsequent MAJORANA AI based ‘Genesis Loop’ investigations have led to new quantum models of how the macro and micro universe exists and behaves. The Universe doesn’t just host intelligence, it might indeed be intelligence and the act of observing might not just measure reality, it creates it. The world renowned astrophysicist Michio Kaku has announced “This is the closest we have ever come to a mathematical model of a self aware universe.”
Note: The accounting of Voyager discoveries, from within and beyond the Heliosphere, has been guarded and varies between sources. There is a wealth of information and perspectives to be found by searching You Tube to help in drawing your own conclusions about this: Mankind’s greatest expedition.
Fred Sinclair is an Alfred NY based writer, deep thinker, and often challenges long held beliefs and assumptions in the world of technology and science. You can reach him anytime, fpsinclair@yahoo.com
