Whilst Diana and I were watching the latest Brian Cox documentary, Solar System, Diana queried the speed of the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Brian Cox stated it was travelling at 1,000,000 miles a day. Diana thought this was too fast. I had to find out just how fast it was going, and I did.
I found a real time feed, from NASA, showing both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flight data, including their speed.
Where Are They Now? – NASA Science
Do the maths
38,026.77 x 24 = 864,642.48 miles
Having spoken with my son, a mathematician, he thought this answer was within a margin of error, so he gave Brian Cox a pass with 1,000,000 miles a day.
Looking at the data, travelling at the speed of light you could still catch either of the spacecraft within a day!
Voyager
The Voyager spacecraft have made the “Because It’s Friday” slot before – of course they would, they have travelled further from Earth than any other human created object.
One of the articles even had a cyber security spin.
Another had drama!
It is testament to the scientists, engineers and technicians that concieved, designed and built these spacecraft back in the 1960’s and 70’s, that they are still operational and sending data back to Earth after – and I will take advice from a mathematician here – 50 years!
Have a good weekend.
Clive Catton MSc (Cyber Security) – by-line and other articles
Further Reading
Maths on Smart Thinking Solutions
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