3302: Voyager Instruments
| Voyager Instruments |
 Title text: Convincing him to turn off the stupid laser show and useless sound system was such a huge ordeal that no one has wanted to do it again. |
Explanation[edit]
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This is one of 53 incomplete explanations: |
The Radioisotope thermoelectric generator is a radioactive power source which powers the Voyager 1 space probe and many other spacecraft in areas where solar power is infeasible due to the large distances from the sun reducing solar power output. As the probe was first launched in 1977 (almost 50 years ago), its power output has fallen considerably since then. As a result, the scientists at NASA need to turn off certain scientific instruments in order to conserve the limited amount of power.
Greg has apparently installed a "LED underlighting" system on Voyager 1, which he refuses to turn off, claiming that it would make humans "look uncool in front of aliens". This is less ridiculous than it would initially appear, as the Voyager probes do in fact carry the Voyager Golden Record which in theory would allow aliens to receive a message from Earth encoded in the audio and data recordings.
The title text mentions that Greg has in fact added even more "entertainment" features to Voyager 1, including a "stupid laser show" (lasers do not scatter due to the absence of particles in a vacuum, making an Earth-style laser show very difficult to view in space) and "useless sound system" (as sound does not travel in space), which were only turned off after a "huge ordeal" which nobody wants to repeat.
Transcript[edit]
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This is one of 36 incomplete transcripts: |
- [Megan is standing in front of a chart, with a diagram of Voyager 1 and a line graph going downward. She is holding a pointer towards the plot while addressing a panel in front of her to the right. The panel is seated behind a desk and is composed of Ponytail, Cueball and Hairy (who is identified in the dialogue as Greg). Cueball is resting his hands on the desk.]
- Megan: As the radioactive power source on Voyager 1 weakens, we've been turning instruments off to conserve power.
- [Megan is holding the pointer at her side. Cueball is no longer resting his hands on the desk.]
- Megan: Only two instruments remain. Do we want to lose the plasma wave subsystem or the magnetometer?
- [Ponytail has her hand raised. Greg is standing up with his hands on the desk.]
- Ponytail: You know, if we just turned off Greg's LED underlighting–
- Greg: Absolutely not.
- Cueball: Dammit, Greg.
- Greg: I will not allow us to look uncool in front of aliens.
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First! 128.119.202.38 00:24, 24 September 2026 (UTC) Last! 216.25.182.141 00:54, 24 September 2026 (UTC)
The sound system wouldn't work in the vacum of space without a Soniferous Aether--Death cab for me (talk) 00:58, 24 September 2026 (UTC)
Should we explain what a plasma wave subsystem or magnetometer is? I personally have no idea what they are and it doesn't seem important to the joke... --Death cab for me (talk) 01:03, 24 September 2026 (UTC)
- Wikipedia has an explanation. It's two antennae at a 90° angle that both Voyager probes have for measuring electron density. Thus, by recording changes in electron density over time, they can measure plasma waves. Apparently the subsystem consumes 1.3 W of power and generates 32 bits per second of data. By the way, Voyager 1 may actually turn back on an instrument: the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment (LECP). It will be able to power this for some time if the planned "Big Bang" fix works, as has already been successfully performed on Voyager 2. So the next news might not be a further instrument shutdown but actually an instrument booting back up. EebstertheGreat (talk) 02:22, 24 September 2026 (UTC)
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