Stalking Voyager - Has Voyager Left the Solar System Yet?

Are we there yet?

That, my friend, is a marvelous question, but it would seem that we are not yet there.

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/

WHEN will we be there? When will Voyager have escaped our solar system? What are they waiting on? Isn't it far enough away from our sun to qualify as "out"?

Indeed, a few of the criteria have been met already. See my previous Voyager blog post for some background info and read on for more info.

Heliosphere - our solar "bubble", the region of space our sun influences

Termination shock - the point in the heliosphere where the solar winds slow to the speed of sound because of interactions with the local interstellar medium causing compression, heat, and This is "shocking" because of the differences in speeds between slowing solar wind particles and other solar particles being regularly emitted.

Heliopause - the boundary where our sun's solar wind particles / energy ends and the interstellar medium increases. So far, I think this is a theoretical boundary, not yet witnessed, but assumed to be there. I wonder how it looks now that we know our solar system has a tail...

I'm not ashamed to admit I have been stalking Voyager data lately.

You can too! Below, there are exciting article links with recent info and links to new data being downloaded daily from Voyager.  I check the second data link (the one with charts!) almost every day. Why? Well, this is my FAVORITE SPACECRAFT and  IT'S GETTING VERY CLOSE to being declared interstellar and I believe that IT'S IMPORTANT FOR HUMANITY that we be keenly and proactively interested in interstellar exploration / travel / research. It could be ANY DAY NOW that the official declaration occurs and I for on plan on celebrating!

CRITERIA FOR BEING DECLARED INTERSTELLAR

1. A steady drop in collisions with low-energy particles from our sun. CHECK
2. A steady rise in collisions with high-energy particles from beyond our system. CHECK
3. Change in magnetic field direction from our sun to interstellar field beyond. NOT YET

So there you have it.
We are all waiting on a magnetic field direction change. This is where the magnetic highway comes into play. It is like a path along which particles are socializing and walking in and out. In other words: it's a GREY AREA and not a brick wall type of boundary that makes up our "edge".

Where to look for new data?

1. http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/science/Voyager_Science_Data.html Has several different types of data and link to each scientific organization and monitoring system

2. Here are the six-hour charts I love: http://voyager.gsfc.nasa.gov/heliopause/data.html
" The Cosmic Ray Subsystem team has made available 6-hour, 24-hour and 26-day data listings and yearly plots for 14 Hydrogen and Helium intensities and two counting rates. The following links will take you to interfaces which will allow you to select the data of choice. The entire Voyager data base consisting of approximately 165 rates and intensities is also available from our ARCHIVE."

No one knows exactly what our solar bubble / membrane looks like, but now we know that it is surrounded by an area with magnetic bubble pockets, an area now known as the magnetic highway and that our solar system actually has a "tail".

Here are links to recent interesting articles:

Our Solar System's Edge is "less edgy" - http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/jul/09/nasa-voyager-solar-system-edge

Solar System's Edge - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23075332

Magnetic bubbles - http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/jun/HQ_11-174_Voyager_Update.html

Magnetic highway - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/voyager/multimedia/pia16486.html

Solar System Tail - http://www.universetoday.com/103412/our-solar-system-has-a-tail-shaped-like-a-four-leaf-clover-new-findings-from-ibex/

Solar System Has a Tail - http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/351477/description/News_in_Brief_The_solar_system_has_a_tail

HAPPY DATA STALKING! ;-)

NASA Goldstone Adventure!

If you read earlier posts, you may realize that I am a bit of a space freak and also a #spacetweep :-) Yes indeed! I am even applying for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Solar System Ambassador program. I am enthusiastic about space-related projects and news about NASA's missions and I truly believe that we all have something to gain from exploring our cosmic neighborhood and beyond! I'm one of those people who would choose to go to another planet if it meant humanity would gain from the experience.

In early September 2012, the week that Hurricane Isaac blew through Louisiana, I applied for another NASA Social event. The last ones I applied for were the MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) Curiosity landing events. I did not get selected for any of those, but I was encouraged to see more NASA Socials! The one in October includes a visit, tour, and presentations at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Network Communications Complex in the Mojave desert. A week and a half after applying, I received an email saying I was not selected for the event, but I was selected for the wait list. THEN, a week later, I got an email saying I was OFF the wait list and IN for the event!

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! :-)

What exactly is the Deep Space Network? WELL........ There are three on our planet: one at Goldstone which is located in Fort Irwin, California, one in Madrid, Spain, and one in Canberra, Australia. There are three Deep Space networks so that communications with the crafts in the far reaches of our solar system will be constant as the Earth rotates. These centers monitor Earth-orbiting craft, perform radio and radar astronomy, and communicate with space craft that are out around remote planets in our solar system. Each complex is located exactly at 120 degrees apart around the Earth, about 1/3 of the way around so the fields of view overlap. Each place is bowl-shaped and semi-mountainous to prevent interference from other signals.

[This image is in the Public Domain]

The DSNs track unmanned craft, but can be called upon in emergencies or when the "communication pipeline" needs more resources.

Here are some helpful links to read more about what a DSN does and how they work:

Deep Space Networks - wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Space_Network

Goldstone - http://www.gdscc.nasa.gov/

Madrid - http://english.insa.es/view/page/madrid-deep-space-communications-complex/

Canberra - http://www.csiro.au/Organisation-Structure/National-Facilities/CDSCC-facility.aspx

I believe the total number of craft monitored by the DSNs is 35. Impressive!

Here is a screenshot of the Goldstone's page listing 24 of the 35...

So..............why am I interested in this?
Well, I have always been interested in radtio and television communications over long distances. As a child, I would scan stations on my shortwave radio and listen to programs from foreign countries. I would also secretly stay up in the night and use the VHF tuner on my little black & white Zenith TV to see if I could get any faraway channels from Charleston, SC. I used to keep a list of them. Some of the furthest stations away were Charlotte, NC, Savannah, GA, and on several clear nights I was able to actually get channel 44 in Tampa, Fla. Not bad! I used to run the SETI @ Home on my desktops computer and Contact is one of my all time favorite movies. Now, I DO know that Contact features the VLA (Very Large Array) and is not about monitoring unmanned craft. Still, radio astronomy and communication is fascinating to me, regardless of how little I know about it! :-) I hope to learn more at Goldstone! Being in a NASA Social is
A W E S O M E
and you learn so much, meet A M A Z I N G people who are curious about the same things, have an adventure, and get treated superbly by NASA and their guests.
What's not to love?!

Here is what I will get to do:

"Tour the Goldstone complex, travel to Apollo Valley to see the historic Apollo antenna and the 34 meter Beam Waveguide Cluster antennas, take a trip to Mars Valley, home of the large 70 meter Mars antenna (230-ft dish), the 34 meter Uranus antenna and Signal Processing Center 10, the Spacecraft Operations Control Center, meet and interact with scientists, engineers, and other team members from NASA and Goldstone, about the historical significance of Goldstone and its part of the Deep Space Network (DSN), the missions supported and what makes Goldstone unique within the DSN, view and take photographs of the complex, meet  fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media, and meet members of NASA's social media teams."

Here is the official NASA list of participants for Goldstone. 65 people were selected.
https://twitter.com/NASASocial/goldstone-nasa-social/

From NASA Social Media:

“From the first planetary encounters, the first human landing on the moon, to missions that reach the farthest points in our solar system, Goldstone has been there to bring home the critical data, images, and science. The Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex is one of three Deep Space Network (DSN) complexes around the world. (The other two are located in Canberra, Australia and Madrid, Spain.) The complex was established to provide the ability to communicate with spacecraft, not only in orbit around the earth, but also in the farther reaches of our solar system. The Deep Space Network complexes provide constant communication with spacecraft as the Earth rotates.

For more information on NASA and its Social Media programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/social/index.html

For more information on the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, visit: http://www.gdscc.nasa.gov/