While a number of Mars rovers capture everyone's attention today, a space probe launched on Sept. 5, 1977, is still humming along out in deep space, with emphasis on humming. And some of us are more interested in it than a mini-helicopter looking for Martians.
It's remarkable that a 43-year-old spacecraft--Voyager 1--is sending data back to NASA, but it's still flying. It's so far from Earth that the craft has passed our solar system's boundary with interstellar space. What's causing the humming? Yahoo News has the answer:
"It's been picking up the faint hum of plasma waves in the interstellar medium. The plasma that Voyager 1 is encountering was produced by our Sun, the researchers say. The solar wind that carries gasses for billions of miles is powerful enough to lead to the expulsion of plasma from our solar system."
How amazing is that? Our sun has sent plasma so far out into space that it's being detected by this space probe that has been moving away from Earth for 43 years. Most folks probably think of the Sun as the star that warms and lights our planet. But it's lighting and holding the orbit of every other planet in our galaxy as well. And now we know solar winds carry our star's plasma to infinity and beyond. It's not a bad discovery for an aging space probe.
When you think about how far that craft has traveled, it makes you feel pretty small in the universe. Something tells us, however, that an alien creature won't find Voyager 1. That it will be a very human hand that retrieves it one of these days. That spaceship and its twin, Voyager 2, aren't the only things that like to travel.