Voyager Missions-NASA Missions
By Josh Baulch
Goals
Voyager two.
Voyager 1 took off on the 5th of September 1977
The take off date took advantage of an alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Dates of Discovery and What it Found Out (Voyager 1)
5th March 1979 Jupiter flyby.
12th November 1980 Saturn flyby
17th February 1998 became most distant human made object
August 2012 entered interstellar space
Jupiter: The Voyager 1 found out that Jupiter has a thin ring surrounding it (less than 30km thick) and discovered two new moons, Thebe and Mantis. It also discovered about eight live volcanos on Io (a moon). It also charted cloud formations, winds and storm systems.
Saturn: The Voyager 1 discovered a new ring (G ring) and three new moons, Prometheus, Pandora and Altas.
Technology Used (Voyager 1)
- Imaging system- camera
- Ultraviolet spectrometer-this instrument tells us what atoms are present by the different colours in the Ultraviolet light
- Photopolarimeter - this measures the reflecting light of planets' clouds
- Magnetometer- an instrument for measuring the strength and sometimes the direction of a magnetic field
Voyager 2 taking off.
Dates of Discovery and What It Found Out (Voyager 2)
9th July 1979 Jupiter flyby. Closest distance to Jupiter was 645 000km above Jupiter.
26th August 1981 Saturn flyby. Closest distance to Saturn was 101 000km above it.
24th January 1986 Uranus flyby. It came within 81 500km of Uranus.
25th of August 1989 Neptune flyby. Closest it passed to Neptune was 4 950km.
Jupiter
Voyager 2 saw that Jupiter's red spot was more uniform and Io still had at least 6 active volcanoes. Also took photos of six of Jupiter's moons.
Saturn
Studyed Saturn's rings and photographed the moons, Hyperion, Tethys, Phobe and Enceladus.
Uranus
Discovered ten new moons, a new magnectic field and winds up to 724km per hour.
Neptune
Discovered four new rings, five new moons and wind speeds of 1100km per hour. Also discovered that Triton had a nitrogen ice volcano.
Neptune (taking by Voyager 2).
Technology Used (Voyager 2)
The Voyager 2 was powered by 3 plutonium oxide radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). It also has on board:
- Imaging system- camera
- Ultraviolet spectrometer-this instrument tells us what atoms are present by the different colours in the Ultraviolet light
- Infrared spectrometer
- Photopolarimeter - this measures the reflecting light of planets' clouds
- Magnetometer- an instrument for measuring the strength and sometimes the direction of a magnetic field
The position of the voyagers and map of surroundings.
Contributions to Our Knowledge
Most of the entire mission has been a success and they are still using some instruments to find out things today.