Voyager 1 has been traveling through space since 1977, and some scientists hoped it could keep sending back science data for 50 years. But a serious glitch has put that milestone in jeopardy.
46 years of radiation, dust, and passing through the heliopause makes it pretty amazing that it’s still flying and not an irradiated ball of welding spatter.
It’s not remarkable they keep flying. They’re in space, just moving along their vector.
It is remarkable they keep operating though.
46 years of radiation, dust, and passing through the heliopause makes it pretty amazing that it’s still flying and not an irradiated ball of welding spatter.
Space is super empty. Not hitting anything that would change its path or physically destroy isn’t that wild.
Most stuff destroyed by time on earth is erosion or microbial breakdown, which isn’t an issue in space.