BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Brad Klein reviews the week’s astronomical highlights with Bethlehem’s ‘Backyard Astronomy Guy,’ Marty McGuire.
This week… a look at recent news in robotic spacecraft.
Launched in 1977, NASA’s Voyager 1 robotic space probe has been operating for more than 45 years.
Up until now the spacecraft has communicated successfully with Earth, a record breaking feat of engineering that appears to be coming to an end.
Voyager 1 is now more than 15 billion miles away, and has started to experience communication troubles. The space probe has been sending incorrect data back home, McGuire said.
But there are still active robotic missions, including rovers that are much closer to Earth.
NASA’s two Mars rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance are roaming the "red planet."
The six-wheeled rovers are larger than an SUV, and are actively searching for ancient signs of microbial life on Mars.
Also on Mars, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter successfully made 72 flights before its propeller blades were recently damaged. The helicopter flew autonomously, since the distance to Mars made controlling the flying drone impossible from Earth.
Images from the two rovers are available to view on NASA’s website, and are available after only a short delay, McGuire said.
“You can see the sunrise on Mars, on your own computer,” he said.
Links for "almost live" images from the NASA Mars Rovers:
Curiosity Rover: https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw-images/
Perseverance Rover: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/
