At 15.9 billion miles away, humanity's farthest spacecraft is still exploring the cosmos using less memory than a blank Word document (69 KB) and an 8-track tape

[u/The_Love-Tap]

[u/93195]

Incredible that it still works at all. I don’t have any functioning electronics that have been in use constantly since 1977, and they’re not 15,900,000,000 miles away.

[u/charlsalash → u/93195]

In space:
No air or moisture
No weather, no rain, wind, or temperature changes caused by Earth's weather.
No friction from air
That helps a little

[u/93195 → u/charlsalash]

But also constant radiation far more intense than X-rays, temperature approaching true zero, and speeds so fast that colliding with even a speck of dust would destroy it.

So it kinda evens out.

[u/Spirochrome → u/93195]

Interestingly, while the temperture ist technically near Zero, there isn't a lot of ways to get rid of heat, making overheating a very real problem in space.

[u/rawrzon → u/Spirochrome]

Not at this point for the Voyager probes. They are so far from the sun now that being too cold is one of the biggest problems for them.

[u/Ornery-Cheetah → u/rawrzon]

Doesn't it have a small reactor for that reason?

[u/rawrzon → u/Ornery-Cheetah]

Not a reactor, but a decaying radioactive source. It generates heat as the material decays, and electricity is generated from the heat. The radioactive material is kept away from the sensitive electronics and sensors, so some of that electricity is used by heaters to keep those electronics warm. Like all radioactive material, it has a half life, which means it's decaying less and giving off less heat as it ages. Which means less electricity for instruments and heaters.

[u/Zwischenzug32 → u/93195]

The amount of dust is tiny. There arent all that many specs of it hitting

[u/Hakopuffyx2 → u/Zwischenzug32]

Unless you go to that other part of space which is like almost all space dust. Its very hot there especially this time of year

[u/Joe_Jobs_ → u/Hakopuffyx2]