Hey guys,
Voyager One firing it's thrusters back up made me do a little research into it's active/disabled systems. They disabled many of the Voyager systems to save power/energy.
Fun Fact: The camera system on the Voyagers may still be functional, just disabled.
So I started to think, is there any way we can recharge the energy storage?
Good News! : There 'might' be a way!
So, who has some knowledge in RHU/Isotopic generator systems?
This is a question of hypothetics, so I am entertaining more advanced technology than we may currently have... but it is technology that is within our grasp.
In theory, I postulate that it should be possible to put energy BACK into the RHU's that are available on the Voyagers. Putting energy back into the RTG may be off the table, due to the way in which it was designed, but the RHU's... Those, those are a little more receptive to this idea.
What if we shoot a laser at the RHU's ?
All we have to do, is put enough energy in the RHU shell insulators, to reverse the reaction and force energy back into the reactive isotope contained within the RHU's.
So, the challenges:
#1 How do we hit the RHU with a laser, but avoid hitting anything else? (A problem of target tracking at exceptional distances, but not a problem for a directed laser, in general. If Boeing can hit a car hood from 30,000 feet in the air, maybe extrapolating that outside of atmosphere is feasible? )
#2 Is it possible to heat/provide energy to the RHU insulator shell, at a high enough rate to put energy back into the isotope, without destroying the RHU? (Someone with nuclear or heavy physics/chemistry knowledge may be able to do the math on this. I personally have not, but it should come down to tolerance levels, specific heat, and reaction activation energy needs. Do we stay under tolerance in the conditions necessary to force this reaction?) If not... Do we stay under tolerance to achieve a similar goal, under any conditions?