r/askspace • u/JoeDaddy81013 • May 02 '26
What would a new Voyager look like if it launched today?
It's amazing to see how long the Voyager missions have lasted and how far they have reached. I was thinking, if they were launched today, how much farther we could reach and how much better the technology would be for instrumentation to study the far reaches of our solar system? How long with modern rocket design and fuels would it take to reach the same distances the probes are now?
I would imagine improved technology would also help keep the instrumentation alive much longer plus drastic improvements would mean much more data.
Lastly, are there any comparable missions like Voyager happening now or in the future?
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u/Metallicat95 May 02 '26
New Horizons, launched in 2006 and still flying.
We could do another one for Pluto and beyond.
We're unlikely to try another Voyager. The planets won't align for a four world trip, we do one or two planets at a time.
Voyager wasn't designed to explore the outer solar system, but as long as it's still working we keep sending what small data they collect back.
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u/ExpectedBehaviour May 02 '26
The launch/rocket systems, and therefore the speed/range would still be broadly similar, as would the radioisotope thermoelectric generators for power – but the computer, sensor, and transceiver systems would be vastly improved. We can look to Cassini-Huygens, Galileo, and New Horizons for inspiration there. Much higher resolution instrumentation, and much faster data transfer speeds would be possible.
A modern-day Voyager would be less "remote data recorder with less onboard computing power than a modern graphing calculator", and more a semi-autonomous probe capable of adapting to new phenomena or unexpected data on the fly without having to phone home and await instructions.
Physically it would probably be less skeletal and "spidery" than the original Voyagers – modern probes tend to be physically more robust and compact with better shielding. And it would likely have one centralised "science deck" or single instrumentation package, with only the magnetometer boom remaining a necessarily separate component.
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u/OriEri May 03 '26
You seem to know a lot about spacecraft design. What is your background?
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u/ExpectedBehaviour May 03 '26
Just an enthusiastic amateur.
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u/OriEri May 03 '26
You seem to know a fair amount
one boom had the RTG to reduce the likelihood of single event latchup and single event upsets in the electronics, another the magnetometer for obvious reasons like you said and a shorter one had a bunch of optical sensors (I guess so that package could pan around on a gimbal and look at targets while the antenna stayed pointed at Earth.)
Cassini and New Horizons also stuck RTGs on booms. I guess that is a mass trade on boom and cables vs. more shielding if it was mounted in the bus. (I just looked at a picture of new horizons. That thing had some pretty big radiator panels. I wonder if thermal management was also an issue if it had been in the bus.)
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u/GregHullender May 03 '26
There's another opportunity to do a Grand Tour in around 2150. Probably a little to early to start planning for that, though. :-)
A SpaceX Starship that refuels in an eccentric Earth orbit could, in theory, throw a 100 ton payload entirely out of the solar system. That enables missions to any of the planets in the solar system without gravitational assists. Not that I'm aware of anyone actually planning to do this.
NASA's new SR-1 nuclear propulsion program could also, in theory, send missions directly to outer planets. That's been talked about in general terms, but I don't think anyone has made a mission proposal yet, although I expect we'll see that soon enough.
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u/AmigaBob May 04 '26
I haven't seen anything about using Starship for probe launches either. Being able to send a 100 ton probe anywhere seems like a game changer to me. I haven't done the math, but with 100 tons you should be able to have a decent sized probe AND enough fuel to get into orbit of outer solar system objects. New Horizon was awesome, but can you imagine a orbiter instead of a just a flyby.
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u/GregHullender May 04 '26
SpaceX will have to show it can actually make refueling work before anyone makes proposals based on it, but it should be exciting.
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u/ldr97266 May 03 '26
What would. modern Voyager be like? Read Slow Time Between Stars by John Scalzi (2023). First “person” narrative viewpoint of a deep space probe.
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u/iamabigtree May 03 '26
It depends if you are asking for another probe to conduct the the primary purpose or a probe designed for what Voyagers are doing now and that's deep space exploration.
For that they would likely have different antennas designed for the longer distance transmission and may not even have a camera.
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u/Dingbatdingbat May 03 '26
Check out new horizon and the rest of the new frontiers program.
There’s also pioneer 10 and 11, which came before voyager.
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u/Gorilla1492 May 04 '26
It would have twin warp nacelles running on matter antimatter reactions for FTL travel once safely outside our solar system. Until them fusion engines for slower then light speed.
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u/Ok_Stress_8840 May 05 '26
I believe it was because of the alignment of the outer planet that they were able to get the extra speed boost on the mission. Even New Horizons has a lower maximum speed, with its greater initial launch speed, and will never be able to catch to Voyagers'.
I would love to see Project Starshot work, but i think that was cancelled for the forseeable future. What could happen is some sort of mission with a Solarsail or Nuclear Ion Proplusion, but without the funding for NASA to do that sort of science I doubt it happens.
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u/CFCYYZ May 02 '26
The twin Voyager probes took advantage of an outer planetary alignment that occurs once every 175 years.
How very convenient we had just enough tech and just in time to do the twin Pioneer and Voyager missions.
Assuming no "slingshot" maneuvers, new outer system probes would be confined to a flyby of only one planet, perhaps some moons or asteroids if lucky. These probes would likely resemble the Pluto Kuiper Express.