Voyager Mission
The present situation is:
- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has observed a “heartbeat” signal from the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
The objective of the Voyager 2 is to:
- It has remained in operation the longest on Earth, having been launched for the first time in 1977.
- Voyager 2 is the second spacecraft to enter interstellar space, which is beyond our Sun’s magnetic field and steady flow of matter. Voyager 1 was the first spacecraft to be sent into orbit, over two weeks earlier than Voyager 2.
- The two missions added to our understanding of the solar system’s outer large planets by revealing around 40 moons and a few rings. They have provided crucial information to planetary astronomy and inspired a number of prospective space missions.
Why did the Voyager spacecraft launch into orbit in the first place?
- Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, just two weeks before Voyager 1, which took off on September 5, 1977.
- The order was reversed when the two spacecraft were granted distinct paths; Voyager 1 had a path to Jupiter and Saturn before Voyager 2.
- The major objective was to learn more about Jupiter and Saturn. The mission was extended as a result of various discoveries made on Io, the moon of Jupiter, including active volcanoes and the complexity of Saturn’s rings.
- Only Voyager 2 did this, and it carried on to research Uranus and Neptune. The most recent exploration mission, the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM), will focus on the farthest reaches of the solar system.
What characteristics does the spacecraft Voyager have?
- The instruments consist of magnetometers, infrared and ultraviolet sensors, cosmic-ray and charged-particle sensors, television cameras for taking photos of planets and other celestial bodies, infrared and ultraviolet sensors, and infrared and ultraviolet sensors.
- A large antenna aboard each spacecraft, having a diameter of 3.7 metres, receives instructions from Earth and transmits data back to the planet.
- They are not powered by solar energy like other spacecraft because their mission necessitates that they travel far from the Sun.Instead, a tiny nuclear reactor on Voyager uses the radioactive decay of a plutonium pellet to produce hundreds of watts of electricity.
- Each Voyager ship carries a golden phonograph record, a 12-inch disc, which serves as a sort of time capsule from Earth to any extraterrestrial race that may come across the probes in the distant future.
What are the most amazing accomplishments of the Voyager spacecraft?
- One of the more surprising discoveries made by Voyager 1 was the discovery that Io, one of Jupiter’s moons, is geologically active.
- It is one of the most geologically active planets in the solar system, with at least eight active volcanoes that are “spewing material into space,” according to the mission.
- Three more new moons of Jupiter, Thebe, Metis, and Adrastea, were found by the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.
- It was discovered that Titan’s moon wasn’t the biggest in our solar system when Voyager 1 sailed close by.
- The satellite’s findings show that Titan’s atmosphere is 90% nitrogen, and methane clouds and rain are expected.
- In 1986, Voyager 2 arrived to Uranus and found that its main elements are hydrogen and helium.
- It discovered 10 new moons in addition to the nine existing rings, as well as two new rings.
- After colliding with Neptune, Voyager travelled into interstellar space.
- Astronomers were able to more precisely locate the interstellar space barrier thanks to these exits, which is difficult to perform from within the solar system. They discovered that interstellar space begins at 18 billion km from the sun.
- NASA is now investigating the outer planets of the solar system and perhaps regions beyond the sun’s sphere of influence.
- It will therefore help us better comprehend how the solar system has evolved.
