voyager program

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Voyager program

Voyager Program



Introduction

The Voyager

program is a U.S

program that

launched twounmanned space

missions, scientific

probes Voyager 1

and Voyager 2.



HistoryThe Voyager probes were originally conceived as part of the Mariner program, and

designated Mariner 11 and Mariner 12, respectively. They were then moved into a

separate program named Mariner Jupiter-Saturn, later retitled Voyager because it was

felt that the probes' designs had moved sufficiently far from the Mariner family that

they merited a separate name. Voyager is essentially a scaled-back version of the

Grand Tour program of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Grand Tour's plan was to

send a pair of probes to fly by all the outer planets; it was scaled back because of

budget cuts. In the end, Voyager fulfilled all the Grand Tour flyby objectives except for

Pluto, which at the time was considered a planet by the IAU.



AchievementsOn December 10, 2007, instruments on board Voyager 2 sent data

back to Earth indicating that the solar system is asymmetrical.

In August 2009 Voyager 1 was over 16.5 terameters (16.5×1012

meters, or 16.5×109 km, 110.7 AU, or 10.2 billion miles) from the

Sun, and thus had entered the heliosheath region between the

solar wind's termination shock and the heliopause (the limit of

the solar wind).

By December 2010 Voyager 1 had reached a region of space

where there was no net velocity of the solar wind.

On Friday, June 10, 2011, "Scientists studying the Voyager datanoticed what may be giant magnetic bubbles located in the

heliosphere, the region of our solar system that separates us from

the violent solar winds of interstellar space. The bubbles,

scientists believe, form when the sun's magnetic field becomes

warped at the edge of our solar system."



Spacecraf t

designThe Voyager spacecraft

weighs 773 kilograms. Of this,

105 kilograms are scientific

instruments. The identical

Voyager spacecraft are three-

axis stabilized systems thatuse celestial or gyro

referenced attitude control to

maintain pointing of the high-

gain antennas toward Earth.

The prime mission science

payload consisted of 10

instruments (11 investigations

including radio science).



Voyager interstellar mission

The Voyager primary mission was completed in 1989, with

the close flyby of Neptune by Voyager 2. The Voyager

Interstellar Mission (VIM) is a mission extension, which

began when the two spacecraft had already been in flight

for over 12 years. The Heliophysics Division of the NASA

Science Mission Directorate conducted a HeliophysicsSenior Review in 2008. The panel found that the VIM "is a

mission that is absolutely imperative to continue" and that

VIM "funding near the optimal level and increased DSN

(Deep Space Network) support is warranted."



The Voyager Golden Records

The Voyager Golden Record Cover of the Voyager Golden Record



The End

If you want more information

visit:

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

voyager program

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