NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Voyager 1

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram robotic space probe of the outer solar system and beyond, launched September 5, 1977, and currently operational. It visited Jupiter and Saturn and was the first probe to provide detailed images of the moons of these planets. Image File history File links Gnome_globe_current_event. ... ISS in earth orbit. ... Image File history File links Shuttle. ... Voyager 1 was a live EP by British group The Verve, for American release only. ... Voyager Spacecraft File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This article is about the American space agency. ... For other uses, see Jupiter (disambiguation). ... This article is about the planet. ... is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Titan is a family of U.S. expendable rockets. ... The Centaur is an upper stage rocket designed for use on satellite launch vehicles, boosting the satellite into its final orbit or, in the case of interplanetary probes, to escape velocity. ... This article is about vehicles powered by rocket engines. ... The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) is a department in NASAs Solar System Exploration Division. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x673, 55 KB) Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x673, 55 KB) Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... For other uses, see Celestia (disambiguation). ... An artists interpretation of the MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury A robotic spacecraft is a spacecraft with no humans on board, that is usually under telerobotic control. ... Technicians work on the Ulysses space probe. ... This article is about the Solar System. ... is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... For other uses, see Jupiter (disambiguation). ... This article is about the planet. ...

Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object from Earth, traveling away from both the Earth and the Sun at a relatively faster speed than any other probe. Though its sister-craft, Voyager 2, was launched one month earlier, Voyager 2 will never pass Voyager 1. Neither will the New Horizons mission to Pluto, despite being launched from Earth at a faster speed than both Voyager craft, since during its flight Voyager 1 benefited from a number of gravity assisted speed boosts.^[1] This article is about Earth as a planet. ... Sol redirects here. ... Trajectory Voyager 2 is an unmanned interplanetary spacecraft, launched on August 20, 1977. ... New Horizons on the launchpad New Horizons is a robotic spacecraft mission conducted by NASA. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study the dwarf planet Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix and Hydra. ... For other uses, see Pluto (disambiguation). ... In orbital mechanics and aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot or gravity assist is the use of the gravity of a planet or other celestial body to alter the path and speed of a spacecraft. ...

As of August 10, 2007, Voyager 1 is over 15.49 terameters (15.49×10¹² meters, or 15.49×10⁹ km, 103.6 AU, 14.36 light-hours, or 9.6 billion miles) from the Sun, and has thus entered the heliosheath, the termination shock region between the solar system and interstellar space, a vast area where the Sun's influence gives way to the other bodies in the galaxy. If Voyager 1 is still functioning when it finally passes the heliopause, scientists will get their first direct measurements of the conditions in the interstellar medium. At this distance, signals from Voyager 1 take more than fourteen hours to reach its control center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a joint project of NASA and Caltech near Pasadena, California. Voyager 1 is on a hyperbolic trajectory and has achieved escape velocity, meaning that its orbit will not return to the inner solar system. Along with Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, New Horizons, and Voyager 2, Voyager 1 is an interstellar probe. is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... A terametre (American spelling: terameter) (symbol: Tm) is a unit of length equal to 1012 metres. ... The astronomical unit (AU or au or a. ... One thousand million (1,000,000,000) is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001. ... The locations of Voyagers 1 and 2 as of 2005 The heliosheath is the zone between the termination shock and the heliopause at the outer border of the solar system. ... The locations of Voyagers 1 and 2 as of 2005 In space physics, the termination shock is the boundary marking one of the outer limits of the suns influence. ... The interstellar medium (or ISM) is the name astronomers give to the tenuous gas and dust that pervade interstellar space. ... The heliopause is the boundary between the heliosphere and the interstellar medium outside the solar system. ... For the singer/songwriter, see Jon Peter Lewis. ... California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (commonly known as Caltech) is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. ... In astrodynamics or celestial mechanics a hyperbolic trajectory is an orbit with the eccentricity greater than 1. ... Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on mission STS-71. ... Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt, and was the first spacecraft to make direct observations of Jupiter. ... Position of Pioneer 10 and 11 Pioneer 11 was the second mission to investigate Jupiter and the outer solar system and the first to explore the planet Saturn and its main rings. ... New Horizons on the launchpad New Horizons is a robotic spacecraft mission conducted by NASA. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study the dwarf planet Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix and Hydra. ... Trajectory Voyager 2 is an unmanned interplanetary spacecraft, launched on August 20, 1977. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Voyager 1 had as its primary targets the planets Jupiter and Saturn and their associated moons and rings; its current mission is the detection of the heliopause and particle measurements of solar wind and the interstellar medium. Both Voyager probes are powered by three radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which have far outlasted their originally intended lifespan, and are now expected to continue to generate enough power to keep communicating with Earth until at least around the year 2020. The plasma in the solar wind meeting the heliopause The solar wind is a stream of charged particles (i. ... The interstellar medium (or ISM) is the name astronomers give to the tenuous gas and dust that pervade interstellar space. ... // A radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) is a simple electrical generator which obtains its power from radioactive decay. ...

Mission profile

Voyager 1 was originally planned as Mariner 11 of the Mariner program. From the outset, it was designed to take advantage of the then-new technique of gravity assist. Luckily, the development of interplanetary probes coincided with an alignment of the planets called the Grand Tour. The Grand Tour was a linked series of gravity assists that, with only the minimal fuel needed for course corrections, would enable a single probe to visit all four of the solar system's gas giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The identical Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes were designed with the Grand Tour in mind, and their launches were timed to enable the Grand Tour if desired. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2469x3000, 6147 KB) Orginal Nasa relase to the picture: Name of Image: Launch of Titan III-Centaur, Voyager 1 MIX #: 9141932 NIX #: MSFC-9141932 Date of Image: 1977-09-05 Category: Launch Vehicles Full Description: The Voyager 1 aboard the Titan... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2469x3000, 6147 KB) Orginal Nasa relase to the picture: Name of Image: Launch of Titan III-Centaur, Voyager 1 MIX #: 9141932 NIX #: MSFC-9141932 Date of Image: 1977-09-05 Category: Launch Vehicles Full Description: The Voyager 1 aboard the Titan... The Titan IIIC is a space booster used by the United States Air Force. ... Model of Centaur with Surveyor as payload. ... Launch of Mariner 1 (NASA) The Mariner program was a program conducted by the American space agency NASA that launched a series of robotic interplanetary probes designed to investigate Mars, Venus and Mercury. ... In orbital mechanics and aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot is the use of the motion of a planet to alter the path and speed of an interplanetary spacecraft. ... For other uses of the term Grand Tour, see Grand Tour (disambiguation) The Planetary Grand Tour was an ambitious plan to send unmanned probes to the outermost planets of the solar system. ... This article is about the Solar System. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the astronomical term. ... For other uses, see Jupiter (disambiguation). ... This article is about the planet. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 120 kPa Hydrogen 83% Helium 15% Methane 1. ... Atmospheric characteristics Surface pressure â‰«100 MPa Hydrogen - H2 80% Â±3. ...

Because of this alignment, Voyager could visit each of these planets in just twelve years, instead of the 30 that would usually be required.

Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977 by NASA from Cape Canaveral aboard a Titan IIIE Centaur rocket, shortly after its sister craft, Voyager 2 on August 20, 1977. Despite being launched after Voyager 2, Voyager 1 was sent on a faster trajectory so it reached Jupiter and Saturn before its sister craft. is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... This article is about the American space agency. ... Cape Canaveral from space, August 1991 Cape Canaveral (Cabo CaÃ±averal in Spanish) is a strip of land in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of that states Atlantic coast. ... Titan is a family of U.S. expendable rockets. ... The Centaur is an upper stage rocket designed for use on satellite launch vehicles, boosting the satellite into its final orbit or, in the case of interplanetary probes, to escape velocity. ... This article is about vehicles powered by rocket engines. ... Trajectory Voyager 2 is an unmanned interplanetary spacecraft, launched on August 20, 1977. ... is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ...

Initially, an underburn in the second stage of the Titan IIIE rocket left an estimated one second's worth of fuel remaining in that stage. Although ground crews were worried that Voyager 1 would not make it to Jupiter, the Centaur upper stage proved to have enough fuel to compensate.

For details on the Voyager instrument packages, see the separate article on the Voyager program. Voyager Project redirects here. ...

Jupiter

Voyager 1 began photographing Jupiter in January 1979. Its closest approach to Jupiter was on March 5, 1979, at a distance of 349,000 kilometers (217,000 miles) from its center. Due to the greater resolution allowed by close approach, most observations of the moons, rings, magnetic fields, and radiation environment of the Jupiter system were made in the 48-hour period bracketing closest approach. It finished photographing the planet in April. For other uses, see Jupiter (disambiguation). ... This article is about the day. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer) (symbol: km) is a unit of length equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words khilia = thousand and metro = count/measure). ... â€œMilesâ€ redirects here. ...

The two Voyager spacecraft made a number of important discoveries about Jupiter and its satellites. The most surprising was the existence of volcanic activity on Io, which had not been observed from the ground or by Pioneer 10 or 11. This article is about volcanoes in geology. ... Atmosphere Surface pressure: trace Composition: 90% sulfur dioxide Io (eye-oe, IPA: , Greek á¿™ÏŽ) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter and, with a diameter of 3,642 kilometers, is the fourth largest moon in the Solar System. ...

Saturn

The gravity assist at Jupiter was successful, and the spacecraft went on to visit Saturn. Voyager 1's Saturn flyby occurred in November 1980, with the closest approach on November 12 when it came within 124,000 kilometers (77,000 miles) of the planet's cloud-tops. The craft detected complex structures in Saturn's rings, and studied the atmospheres of Saturn and Titan. Because of the earlier discovery of a thick atmosphere on Titan, the Voyager controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory elected for Voyager 1 to make a close approach of Titan and terminate its Grand Tour. (For the continuation of the Grand Tour, see the Uranus and Neptune sections of the Voyager 2 article.) The Titan-approach trajectory caused an additional gravity assist that took Voyager 1 out of the plane of the ecliptic, thus ending its planetary science mission. Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 140 kPa Hydrogen >93% Helium >5% Methane 0. ... is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Titan (, from Ancient Greek Î¤á¿‘Ï„Î¬Î½) or Saturn VI is the largest moon of Saturn and the only moon known to have a dense atmosphere. ... For the singer/songwriter, see Jon Peter Lewis. ... Trajectory Voyager 2 is an unmanned interplanetary spacecraft, launched on August 20, 1977. ... The plane of the ecliptic is well seen in this picture from the 1994 lunar prospecting Clementine spacecraft. ...

Interstellar mission

It is estimated that both Voyager craft have sufficient electrical power to operate at least some instruments until 2020, which will be 43 years after launch.^[2]

Heliopause

As Voyager 1 heads for interstellar space, its instruments continue to study the solar system; Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists are using the plasma wave experiments aboard Voyager 1 and 2 to look for the heliopause. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2500x1687, 1789 KB) original description: This still shows the locations of Voyagers 1 and 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2500x1687, 1789 KB) original description: This still shows the locations of Voyagers 1 and 2. ... The locations of Voyagers 1 and 2 as of 2005 The heliosheath is the zone between the termination shock and the heliopause at the outer border of the solar system. ... The JPL complex in Pasadena, Ca. ... A plasma is a quasineutral, electrically conductive fluid. ... The heliopause is the boundary between the heliosphere and the interstellar medium outside the solar system. ...

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory believe that Voyager 1 entered the termination shock in February 2003.^[3] Some other scientists have expressed doubt, discussed in the journal Nature of November 6, 2003. In a scientific session at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans on the morning of May 25, 2005, Dr. Ed Stone presented evidence that Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock in December 2004. "SH22A-01" The issue will not be resolved for some months as other data become available, since Voyager's solar-wind detector ceased functioning in 1990. However, in May 2005 a NASA press release said that consensus was that Voyager 1 was now in the heliosheath.^[4] Scientists believe the craft will reach the heliopause in 2015. The Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, is a private institution of higher learning located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. ... The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), located in Laurel, Maryland, is a not-for-profit, university-affiliated research center employing 4,000 people. ... The locations of Voyagers 1 and 2 as of 2005 In space physics, the termination shock is the boundary marking one of the outer limits of the suns influence. ... Nature is a prominent scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869. ... is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The American Geophysical Union (or AGU) is a nonprofit organization of geophysicists, consisting (as of 2006) of over 49,000 members from over 140 countries. ... New Orleans is the largest city in the state of Louisiana, United States of America. ... is the 145th day of the year (146th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The locations of Voyagers 1 and 2 as of 2005 The heliosheath is the zone between the termination shock and the heliopause at the outer border of the solar system. ... The heliopause is the boundary between the heliosphere and the interstellar medium outside the solar system. ...

Current status

As of August 22, 2007, Voyager 1 was at a distance of 103.6 AU (approximately 15.5 terameters, 9.7 billion miles or 0.0016 light years) from the Sun, which makes it the most distant human-made object from Earth.^[5] At this distance, it is more distant from the Sun than any known natural solar system object, including 90377 Sedna. Though Sedna has an orbit that takes it 975 AU away from the Sun at aphelion, as of 2006 it is less than 90 AU away from the Sun and approaching its perihelion at 76 AU.^[6]^[7] is the 234th day of the year (235th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... The astronomical unit (AU or au or a. ... A terametre (American spelling: terameter) (symbol: Tm) is a unit of length equal to 1012 metres. ... One thousand million (1,000,000,000) is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001. ... â€œMilesâ€ redirects here. ... Sol redirects here. ... you are abunch of bull | bgcolour=#FFFFC0 | name=90377 Sedna | image= | caption= Sedna is located in the center of the green circle | discovery=yes | discoverer=M. Brown, C. Trujillo, D. Rabinowitz | discovered=November 14, 2003 | mp_name=90377 Sedna | alt_names= | mp_category=Trans-Neptunian object | epoch=September 26, 1990 (JD 2448160. ... A diagram of Keplerian orbital elements. ... This article is about several astronomical terms (apogee & perigee, aphelion & perihelion, generic equivalents based on apsis, and related but rarer terms. ...

At its current distance, light (which travels at 186,282.397 miles per second or 299,792.458 kilometers per second) takes over 13.8 hours to reach the spacecraft from Earth. As a basis for comparison, the Moon is about 1.4 light seconds from Earth, the Sun is about 8.5 light minutes away, and Pluto is at an average distance of approximately 5.5 light hours. As of November 2005, the spacecraft was traveling at a speed of 17.2 kilometers per second relative to the sun (3.6 AU per year or 38,400 miles per hour), 10% faster than Voyager 2. Accurate information concerning its location can be found in this NASA paper with heliocentric coordinates extrapolated up to 2015 of both probes. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The speed of light in a vacuum is an important physical constant denoted by the letter c for constant or the Latin word celeritas meaning swiftness.[1] It is the speed of all electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, in a vacuum. ... This article is about Earth as a planet. ... This article is about Earths moon. ... Sol redirects here. ... For other uses, see Pluto (disambiguation). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A year (from Old English gÄ“r) is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ... Miles per hour is a unit of speed, expressing the number of international miles covered per hour. ... Trajectory Voyager 2 is an unmanned interplanetary spacecraft, launched on August 20, 1977. ...

Voyager 1 is not heading towards any particular star, but in 40,000 years it will be within 1.7 light years of the star AC+793888 in the Camelopardis constellation. Camelopardalis, Latin for giraffe, is the name of a large but faint northern constellation first recorded by Jakob Bartsch in 1624, but probably created earlier by Petrus Plancius. ...

On March 31, 2006, the amateur radio operators from AMSAT Germany tracked and received data from Voyager 1 using the 20-metre (66 ft) dish at Bochum with a long integration technique. Its data were checked and verified against data from the Deep Space Network station at Madrid, Spain.^[8] This is believed to be the first such tracking of Voyager. is the 90th day of the year (91st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An amateur radio operator is an individual who, typically, uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other similar individuals on radio frequencies assigned to the Amateur Radio Service. ... AMSAT is both a generic name for amateur radio satellite organizations world-wide, but in particular is the name of the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation of North America (AMSAT-NA) with headquarters at Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington DC. Other national organizations exist, such as AMSAT Germany (AMSAT-DL), AMSAT... Bochum is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. ... Deep Space Network (DSN) is an international network of radio antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions, and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. ... This article is about the Spanish capital. ...

Voyager 1, as of September 2006, is at 12.22° declination and 17.051 hours right ascension, placing it in the constellation Ophiuchus. NASA continues daily tracking of the spacecraft with the Deep Space Network stations. 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ophiuchus (IPA: ), formerly referred to as Serpentarius (IPA: ), the former originating in the Greek language and the latter in the Latin language, both meaning serpent-holder, is one of the 88 constellations and was also one of the 48 listed by Ptolemy. ... Deep Space Network (DSN) is an international network of radio antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions, and radio and radar astronomy observations for the exploration of the solar system and the universe. ...

Contents

Mission profile

Jupiter

Saturn

Interstellar mission

Heliopause

Current status

See also

References

External links