Voyager spacecraft have not sustained structural damage from micrometeoroids
the verdict
INSUFFICIENT LEANING
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
2 sources for · 0 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Retrieved literature confirms that the Voyager spacecraft frequently detect interplanetary dust impacts via plasma wave instruments, but the sources do not provide a comprehensive accounting of whether these impacts caused structural damage.
# How likely is it that the Voyager spacecrafts haven't yet been damaged by micrometeoroids?
Tags: probe, voyager, impact, solar-system, uncrewed-spaceflight
- Score: 14
- Views: 2211
- Answers: 1
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: Tfovid (243 rep)
- Asked: 2023-09-02
- Edited: 2023-09-03
- Site: space
## Question
Both Voyagers have been traveling at over $60,000$ km/h for well over four decades and still seem to function properly, taking into account the slowly dropping power and warmth available from their radioisotope generators.
In terms of volume, they've basically traversed a cylinder of length $23.3\times10^9$ km and diameter of order $\mathcal{O}(1)$ m. At those speeds even a few grains of sand could potentially cause massive damage, let alone after over 45 years of flight.
Is space really that empty?
## Answers
### Answer by user12102 (score: 14 [ACCEPTED])
This is a great question, I'm no planetary scientist but I'll give a partial answer to get things started.
Interplanetary dust is ubiquitous in the solar system and interplanetary spacecraft including the Voyagers detect impacts regularly via the electric field (low frequency "radio") pulses produced by the expanding he
# Micron‐sized dust particles detected in the outer solar system by the Voyager 1 and 2 plasma wave instruments
Geophysical Research Letters. Published: 1997-12-15. 114 citations.
## Authors
- D. A. Gurnett (University of Iowa): h-index 103; 36,506 citations
- J. A. Ansher (University of Iowa): h-index 4; 165 citations
- W. S. Kŭrth (University of Iowa): h-index 91; 35,717 citations
- L. J. Granroth (University of Iowa): h-index 11; 586 citations
## Topics
- Astro and Planetary Science
- Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics
- Laser-induced spectroscopy and plasma
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# Micron-sized dust particles detected in the outer solar system by the Voyager 1 and 2 plasma wave instruments
## Abstract
During the Voyager 1 and 2 flybys of the outer planets it has been demonstrated that the plasma wave instrument can detect small dust particles striking the spacecraft. In this paper, we examine the Voyager plasma wave data for dust impacts in the interplanetary medium at heliocentfic radial distances ranging from 6 to 60 astronomical units (AU). The results show that a small but persistent level of dust impacts exists out to at least 30 to 50 AU. The average number density of these part
Everything we examined (2)
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