45 years in the past, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft left Earth to start its journey to the outer planets and past; A journey that continues at present. Voyager 2, the primary of two spacecraft parts of the mission, lifted off on August 20, 1977, utilizing the gravity of 1 planet to journey to a different planet, profiting from a uncommon planetary alignment. Even although the Voyager mission solely focused Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 2 additionally explored Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1 was launched on 5 September of the identical 12 months.
The pair of spacecraft carry subtle tools for in-depth exploration of the outer planets. They each proceed to return knowledge as they transfer out of the photo voltaic system and into interstellar house.
Voyager Mission: Genesis
The Voyager missions started within the Nineteen Sixties when mission designers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory noticed that the following alignment of the outer planets, a uncommon occasion that happens solely as soon as each 175 years, would happen within the late Nineteen Seventies. At the time, expertise was sufficiently superior to reap the benefits of this alignment to fly a spacecraft by Jupiter and use its gravity to journey to Saturn, then repeat the method to go to Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. For.
This was a super situation as launching a number of missions to every planet individually would have been a expensive affair that may have taken even longer. The house company developed a plan to ship two pairs of “thermoelectric outer planet spacecraft” on these Grand Tours. But that plan was canceled in 1971 because it proved too costly.
The very subsequent 12 months, NASA permitted a smaller model of the venture, which concerned launching two spacecraft to discover simply Jupiter and Saturn in 1977. On March 7, 1977, NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher introduced the renaming of the 2 Mariner spacecraft to Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Canceled Grand Tour mission.
Voyager mission launch
Voyager 2 was the primary to go away the planet and was launched on a Titan IIIE-Centaur rocket from Launch Complex 21 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (then Cape Canaveral Air Force Station) in Florida. Even although Voyager 1 was launched two weeks later, it traveled quicker and reached Jupiter 4 months sooner than Voyager 2.
Voyager 2 efficiently crossed the asteroid belt between 10 December 1977 and 21 October 1978. However, its main radio failed in April 1978 and has since been working on its backup receiver.
Voyager 2: Observation of Jupiter and Saturn
Between April 24 and August 5, 1959, Voyager 2 noticed Jupiter, with its closest method of about 563,000 kilometers above the gasoline large clouds on July 9. Voyager 2 returned 17,000 photos of Jupiter and its satellites and in addition helped verify Voyager 1. Discovery of a skinny ring across the planet. The spacecraft additionally supplied details about the planet’s atmospheric and magnetic fields. It then used Jupiter’s gravity to reverse its trajectory and speed up towards Saturn.
Image of Voyager 2 Jupiter (left) and Saturn (proper). (picture credit score: NASA)
On 5 June 1981, Voyager 2 started its long-range statement of Saturn and on 26 August handed inside 41,000 km of the planet’s cloud tops. It took 16,000 photographs of Saturn earlier than ending its observations on 4 September. Satellites In addition to the invention of a number of new satellites, Voyager 2’s devices additionally returned knowledge in regards to the ringed planet’s ambiance. The planet’s gravity then despatched the spacecraft on its journey to Uranus.
Going Beyond: Uranus and Neptune
Between November 4, 1985 and February 25, 1986, Voyager 2 performed close-up observations of Uranus about 81,500 kilometers above the planet’s cloud tops on January 25, 1986. The spacecraft returned greater than 7,000 photographs of the planet, its ring and moon. It additionally found two new rings and 11 new moons. Voyager 2’s devices additionally returned knowledge associated to the planet’s ambiance and its uncommon magnetic discipline.
Image of Voyager 2 Uranus (left) and Neptune (proper). (picture credit score: NASA)
The spacecraft then used the gravity of Uranus to launch it towards its closing planetary cease, Neptune. Between June 5 and October 2, 1989, it made an in depth statement of the planet on August 25, flying about 5,400 km above the eighth planet’s north pole. On this trajectory, it additionally noticed Neptune’s largest moon Triton, the final strong object found.
During its statement of Uranus, Voyager 2 returned greater than 9,000 photos of the planet, its ambiance, darkish rings and moon. It additionally found six new moons. The spacecraft helped uncover that Neptune had an uncommon magnetic discipline much like that of Uranus; The planet is tilted 47 levels from its axis and considerably offset from its middle.
Voyager 2’s Interstellar Journey
After observing Neptune, the spacecraft started its interstellar mission which continues at present. Over the years, lots of Voyager 2’s devices needed to be turned off to preserve energy, beginning with the imaging system in 1998. Currently, the spacecraft is greater than 19 billion kilometers away from Earth. In reality it’s so far-off that it takes 18 hours for radio alerts from the spacecraft to succeed in right here. Being so removed from the Sun, it’s a outstanding scientific achievement that it will probably proceed to return knowledge.
The gold disc carried by each Voyager spacecraft. (Image credit score: NASA/JPL/Caltech)
45 years in the past, NASA engineers ready for the likelihood that an alien intelligence would possibly discover the spacecraft. Voyager 2, like Voyager 1, holds a gold-plated report containing details about Earth, together with recordings of sounds, music and greetings in 55 languages. The engineers additionally included directions on how you can play the report.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
