In the middle of the last century, with the help of science and technology, mankind finally stepped out of the earth and began preliminary exploration of the solar system. Standing outside the earth, we know how vast the universe is and how small the earth is. Although human beings want to explore the entire universe and understand the mysteries of the universe, the development of human science and technology is still very low-level and has no ability to explore the entire universe. universe.
For human beings who have just walked out of the earth, exploring and understanding the mysteries of the solar system is the first task. Since the 1960s, we have successively conducted exploration and research on several inner planets of the solar system, especially in 1969, successfully manned to the moon.
With the continuous progress of space technology and the continuous accumulation of space experience, scientists began to look at the outer solar system from the inner solar system. There are four giant gaseous planets in the outer solar system. They are very different from the rocky planets. They understand the gaseous state. The mystery of planets helps us uncover the mystery of planet formation.
Exploring the four gaseous planets in the outer solar system is not the ultimate mission of scientists. The main thing for mankind to explore the outer solar system is to figure out the conditions at the edge of the solar system. We all know that to explore the vast universe, humans must first get out of the solar system. In many people’s eyes, getting out of the solar system is not complicated. As long as we can achieve faster speeds, we can safely get out of the solar system.
So is it really that simple? Is it safe to get out of the solar system once the speed is reached? Scientists have doubts about this. You must know that there was a great scientist in the last century. His name was Nikola Tesla. He had thousands of inventions in his life. The alternating current that we use now was invented by him. , And Nikola Tesla has his own unique insights in the study of electromagnetics and the universe.
Nikola Tesla once predicted that there might be an energy circle at the edge of the solar system surrounding the entire solar system. So does this energy circle exist? With the continuous advancement of human science and technology, many scientists believe that it exists. Of course, this energy circle was not created by an alien civilization. It should be an energy shield formed by the collision between the solar wind and the interstellar medium.
If there is such an energy shield at the edge of the solar system, it will have an unknown impact on the safe exit of mankind from the solar system in the future. Therefore, before we go out of the solar system, we must first understand the situation at the edge of the solar system. To explore the radiant energy situation at the edge of the solar system, it is not enough to rely on astronomical telescopes. We need to send interstellar probes to the edge of the solar system or even enter the interstellar space Learn more about the situation.
In order to explore the mysteries of the outer solar system and the edge of the solar system, scientists have launched many probes. For example: Pioneer 10 was launched in 1972 to fly over Jupiter; Pioneer 11 was launched in 1973 to fly over Jupiter and Saturn; in 1977 In August and September, Voyager 2 and Voyager 1 were launched respectively; in 2006, the New Horizons probe was launched, flying over Jupiter and Pluto, and then entering the Kuiper Belt.
These five probes are all moving toward the edge of the solar system to uncover the secrets there, but in the end, except for Voyager 1, Voyager 2, and New Horizons, the other three probes have lost contact. The mission of New Horizons is not to go out of the solar system, but to conduct detailed exploration of the Kuiper Belt at the edge of the solar system, so it is currently still staying in the Kuiper Belt to continuously detect asteroids.
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 both aim to get out of the solar system, so they will not stay and keep moving towards interstellar space. Therefore, the Voyager is the detector that represents human beings and truly leaves the solar system. Considering the heavy responsibility of Voyager, they carry various advanced instruments, such as the cosmic ray subsystem (CRS) and low-energy charging. Particle detectors, which can detect charged particles in the top of the solar wind and in the interstellar medium.
In addition, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 each carry a gold-plated record, which records information about humans and the earth. The main reason for carrying gilded records is that humans expect to be able to get in touch with alien civilizations outside the solar system. If Voyager can continue to fly, then one day they will be able to encounter alien civilizations.
The important task of Voyager is to probe the solar wind and the interstellar medium, two areas that humans have not set foot in. In theory, the solar wind has the farthest propagation distance, forming an energy bubble to protect the entire solar system from cosmic rays. Of violations.
We don’t know anything about the interstellar medium. Scientists guess that there are dust particles, high-energy cosmic rays, and neutral particles in it, and it is very calm. Whether the above guesses are correct, we need to rely on the Voyager to complete.
Although Voyager 1 departed a month later than Voyager 2, it achieved a higher speed and reached the edge of the solar system earlier, traversing the heliosphere and entering interstellar space. The speed of Voyager 1 is about 17 kilometers per second. In February 2011, it reached the edge of the solar system. At this time, the solar wind particle detector first found that the solar wind had stagnated, which indicated that Voyager 1 had reached the heliosphere of the solar system. the edge of.
In May 2012, the detector received more and more cosmic ray particles, and the solar wind particles have been basically zero, which shows that Voyager 1 has broken away from the solar wind circle and entered the interstellar medium space. Is interstellar space calm? Perhaps in the eyes of many people, the interstellar space has fewer particles and smaller matter, so it should be a very calm and safe space.
However, the detection results of Voyager 1 are quite different. According to preliminary detection data, it is found that cosmic rays contain stronger energy than solar wind particles, their penetrating ability is stronger, and they are more harmful to humans. The huge increase in cosmic rays in interstellar space has indeed exceeded the prediction of scientists, and it will become an obstacle for humans to enter the deep space of the universe in the future.
Although human spacecraft can withstand the bombardment of high-energy particles in the solar system, they cannot withstand the high-level particles in interstellar space. They can still penetrate the spacecraft and cause harm to the human body. It can be seen that getting out of the solar system is not as simple as we thought. Even if the speed conditions are reached, we still need to upgrade the materials, and have stronger cosmic radiation-resistant materials.
This major discovery by Voyager 1 is of great significance to humans exploring the universe, allowing us to initially understand the complex and dangerous conditions at the edge of the solar system and the dangers of interstellar space. Want to go out of the solar system for interstellar exploration, it seems that human beings are still far from the current technological strength, and we need to make more efforts.