Voyager 2
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The Voyager 2 spacecraft was launched in 1977, originally planned as Mariner 12 of the Mariner program. It is identical to its sister Voyager program craft, Voyager 1. Voyager 2 followed a somewhat different trajectory during its Saturn encounter, however, bypassing a close encounter with Titan in favour of taking advantage of a gravitational slingshot to travel on to Uranus and Neptune. It became the first and so far only probe to visit those two planets.
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Planets Visited
Voyager 2 launched on August 20, 1977, from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard a Titan-Centaur rocket. The closest approach to Jupiter occurred on July 9, 1979, closest approach to Saturn occurred on August 25, 1981, closest approach to Uranus occurred on January 24, 1986 and closest approach to Neptune occurred on August 25, 1989.
Escaping Solar System
As of August 24 2003, Voyager 2 was at a distance of 10.6 billion kilometers (71 AU) and is escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.3 AU per year (ca. 15 km/s). It will be approximately 40,000 years before Voyager 2 approaches another star.
Voyager 2 is expected to keep on transmitting into the 2030s.
Golden Record
Voyager 2 carries with it a golden record (Voyager Golden Record) that contains pictures and sounds of Earth, along with symbolic directions for playing the record. The contents of this record were selected by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan.
Fiction about Voyager
The motion picture Starman portrayed Voyager 2 as having been located by an alien intelligence who subsequently sent one of their own race to investigate intelligent life on Earth.
Although only two Voyagers were launched in real life (at least as of 2004), Star Trek: The Motion Picture makes reference to a "Voyager 6" which disappears into a black hole and emerges on the far side of the galaxy. The title vessel of the TV series Star Trek: Voyager is named for the space probes.
See also
- Voyager program for more information about this spacecraft.
External links
- NASA Voyager website
- Voyager Spacecraft Lifetime
- Spacecraft Escaping the Solar System - current positions and diagrams
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