All Things Considered host Juana Summers joins Regina G. Barber and Berly McCoy to nerd-out on some of the latest science news buzzing around in our brains. They talk NASA shouting across billions of miles of space to reconnect with Voyager 2, the sneaky tactics trumpetfish use to catch their prey and how climate change is fueling big waves along California's coast. What science story do you want to hear next on Short Wave? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
NASA's Voyager spacecraft zoomed by our solar system's planets decades ago and are now traveling through interstellar space, ultimate destination unknown. Yet the final transmissions from the two deep space craft loom increasingly closer. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, both launched in 1977, were built to last five years. They've now beamed back cosmic information for over 46 years, a feat made possible by a hardy spacecraft and a clever group of NASA engineers. The Voyagers' nuclear power supply (Plutonium-238), however, is running low. To preserve fuel, NASA turned off the probes' cameras and half of their science instruments. Now at 15 and 12 billion miles away, Voyagers 1 and 2 still beam back unprecedented information about their far-off environs, where no other human spacecraft has ventured before. They're returning data about the radiation in interstellar space and how far the sun's protective bubble of energy and particles extends into the cosmos. &
NASA's Voyager mission is nearing half a century of operation. How much longer will the pioneering deep space mission last, and when will we receive our final transmission from the spacecraft?
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NASA back in touch with Voyager 2 after interstellar shout france24.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from france24.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.