Comments by "Matuse" (@Matuse) on "The Only Reason the Voyager Probes are Still Working Today" video.

  1. No. Mars is (on average) further away than the Sun. Because of how orbits work, it's quite possible for Mars to be on the other side of the sun from us, which means that you go the whole distance to the sun, then across the sun, then the whole distance to Earth's orbit on the other side, and then the extra distance to where Mars is. Far more than double the distance to the sun. Closest approach (which is rare, because it requires both Earth and Mars to be in very specific spots of their orbits at the same time) is less than half the distance to the sun.
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  2. Except no, you just fall for very dumb hoaxes.
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  3. Time dilation has nothing to do with being further from Earth, it's about relative velocity. The solid state transistors used on the Voyagers are much more resistant to the effects of ionizing radiation than a modern day integrated circuit. That's the benefit they get for being much larger, heavier, and less capable. It's one of the big problems with the Artemis missions: keeping the computers functional without having to add 10,000 lbs of lead shielding to the spacecraft.
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  4.  @Zeddzded  The delay in sending a signal to Voyager isn't time dialation - that is the aspect of relativity which tells us that the faster something is moving, the less time effects it compared to someone slow. Someone traveling at 99% of light speed might perceive that 5 hours have gone by, but someone else watching them will see 100 years. The information from Voyager is about 21 hours old. Even for all that it's been in space for nearly 50 years, Voyager isn't yet even a single light-day from Earth. Mars averages about 15 light minutes away.
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  5. Aluminum is not a very precious metal.
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  6. All it would take is one car accident to irradiate a giant section of roadway for centuries. Seems like a really bad idea.
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  7. The issue is the distances involved. Radio waves drop in strength per the inverse cube law. The difference between where Voyager is and an alien species would be living is the difference between being able to yell at somebody across the street and being able to yell from Los Angeles to New York.
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  8. Knowing about the universe is helping mankind. Putting out a probe with information about humanity that will outlive humanity is helping mankind.
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  9. Everyone who knows you, hates you.
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  10. The two Voyagers had slightly different missions. 2 was going to try and hit the outer planets past Jupiter, but 1 was going to hit up the moons of Jupiter. The trajectory required for the two goals was different, and the better planetary alignment meant that 2 launched first, even though it was built second.
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  11. It will apparently come as a shock to you to find out that your cell phone doesn't have a 2 meter transmitter dish attached to it. Nor is there a 10 meter receiving dish pointed at your phone with no obstacles in the way. Also, your phone typically transmits at 600 milliwatts. Voyager is 23 watts - almost 40 times more energy than your phone uses.
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  12. No, half a century later they are struggling to perform a much more ambitious mission with a tiny fraction of the budget.
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  13. Apollo had 2 catastrophic failures out of 17 missions. That's not so great.
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