Question

When the Voyager I and Voyager II spacecraft were exploring the outer planets, NASA flight controllers had to plan the crafts' moves well in advance. How many seconds elapse between the time a command is sent from Earth and the time the command is received by Voyager at Neptune?

Answer 1

14,676 seconds.

Step-by-step explanation:

The signal travels as a radio wave which moves at the speed of light, c, which is 299,792 Km/s

The distance between Earth and Neptune is roughly 4.4x 10^9 Km.

The time it would take for the signal to reach Voyager at Neptune from the Earth would be:

(4.4x 10^9 Km)/(299,792 Km/s)

=14,676 seconds

=Approximately 4 hours.

So scientists would have to take this lapse into account.