22, 1981, two years after leaving the Jovian system, with imaging of the moon Iapetus. Its encounter with the sixth planet began Aug. With the combined cameras of the two Voyagers, at least 80% of the surfaces of Ganymede and Callisto were mapped out to a resolution of about 3 miles (5 kilometers).įollowing a course correction two hours after its closest approach to Jupiter, Voyager 2 sped to Saturn, its trajectory determined to a large degree by a decision made in January 1981, to try to send the spacecraft to Uranus and Neptune later in the decade. When the earlier Pioneers flew by Jupiter, they detected few atmospheric changes from one encounter to the second, but Voyager 2 detected many significant changes, including a drift in the Great Red Spot as well as changes in its shape and color. It transmitted new data on the planet’s clouds, its newly discovered four moons, and ring system as well as 17,000 new pictures. Voyager 2’s closest encounter to Jupiter was at 22:29 UT July 9, 1979, at a range of about 400,785 miles (645,000 kilometers). Unlike Voyager 1, Voyager 2 made close passes to the Jovian moons on its way into the system, with scientists especially interested in more information from Europa and Io (which necessitated a 10 hour-long “volcano watch”).ĭuring its encounter, it relayed back spectacular photos of the entire Jovian system, including its moons Callisto, Ganymede, Europa (at a range of about 127,830 miles or 205,720 kilometers, much closer than Voyager 1), Io, and Amalthea, all of which had already been surveyed by Voyager 1. Voyager 2 began transmitting images of Jupiter April 24, 1979, for time-lapse movies of atmospheric circulation. Power was provided by three plutonium dioxide radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) mounted at the end of a boom. Fletcher (1919-1991) announced that they would be renamed Voyager. The design of the two spacecraft was based on the older Mariners, and they were known as Mariner 11 and Mariner 12 until March 7, 1977, when NASA Administrator James C.
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In 1974, mission planners proposed a mission in which, if the first Voyager was successful, the second one could be redirected to Uranus and then Neptune using gravity assist maneuvers.Įach of the two spacecraft was equipped with a slow-scan color TV camera to take images of the planets and their moons and each also carried an extensive suite of instruments to record magnetic, atmospheric, lunar, and other data about the planetary systems. The two spacecraft were designed to explore the two gas giants in more detail than the two Pioneers (Pioneers 10 and 11) that preceded them. NASA canceled the plan in January 1972 largely due to anticipated costs (projected at $1 billion) and instead proposed to launch only two spacecraft in 1977 to Jupiter and Saturn. Why the reversal of order? The two were sent on different trajectories, and Voyager 1 was put on a path to reach its planetary targets, Jupiter and Saturn, ahead of Voyager 2. 20, 1977, about two weeks before the Sept. The two-spacecraft Voyager missions were designed to replace original plans for a “Grand Tour” of the planets that would have used four highly complex spacecraft to explore the five outer planets during the late 1970s. July 8, 2019: Voyager 2 successfully fired its trajectory correction maneuver thrusters In Depth: Voyager 2 At Neptune, Voyager 2 discovered five moons, four rings, and a "Great Dark Spot."ĭec.Voyager 2 was the first human-made object to fly by Neptune.At Uranus, Voyager 2 discovered 10 new moons and two new rings.Voyager 2 was the first human-made object to fly past Uranus.Voyager 2 discovered a 14th moon at Jupiter.Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to study all four of the solar system's giant planets at close range.Credit: NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD) Low-Energy Charged Particles Experiment (LECP)Ī 3D model of NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft. Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment (PRA)Ĩ. Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer (IRIS)Ĥ. Jupiter Flyby, Saturn Flyby, Uranus Flyby, Neptune Flyby Like its sister spacecraft, Voyager 2 also was designed to find and study the edge of our solar system.Voyager 2 targeted Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1 and 2 were designed to take advantage of a rare planetary alignment to study the outer solar system up close.10, 2018, the spacecraft joined its twin-Voyager 1-as the only human-made objects to enter the space between the stars.
NASA's Voyager 2 is the second spacecraft to enter interstellar space.