The Legacy Of The Voyager Mission

Relevance: GS 3 - Awareness in the fields of Space

(Source: Indian Express, 04/08/23)

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Why in the news?

• Recently NASA reestablished communication with Voyager 2 spacecraft on August 1, after losing communication for over a week.
• Voyager 2, launched nearly 46 years ago, became the second spacecraft to venture into interstellar space, an area beyond the influence of the Sun's material and magnetic field.

About Voyager 1 and Voyager 2

• The spacecraft were scheduled for a launch towards the end of the 1970s in order to take advantage of a rare alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune that occurs once every 175 years.
• The alignment enabled the spacecraft to utilize the gravitational forces of the planets, allowing them to transition from one planet to the next with minimal fuel consumption.
• The mission of two spacecraft was away from the sun therefore they relied on a small nuclear power plant that generates energy by breaking down plutonium, providing them with the power they need.

What are the notable achievements of the Voyager spacecraft?

• Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, followed by Voyager 1 on September 5.
• Voyager 1 was set on a course to reach Jupiter and Saturn before Voyager 2.
• The two probes have explored all the outer giant planets of our solar system and discovered over 40 moons and numerous rings.
• They have provided invaluable data on planetary astronomy and inspired many future space missions.
• Jupiter: Voyager 1’s discovery included an active moon named ‘Io’ with erupting volcanoes. Io is one of Jupiter's moons.
• Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 discovered three new moons of Jupiter: Thebe, Metis, and Adrastea
• Saturn: Voyager 1 explored Saturn and found that Titan's solid center was smaller than Jupiter's Ganymede.
• The spacecraft also noted that Titan’s atmosphere was composed of 90 per cent nitrogen, and it likely had clouds and rain of methane.
• Uranus: Voyager 2 arrived at Uranus in 1986, becoming the first human-made object to fly past the aquamarine planet. The spacecraft confirmed that the main constituents of Uranus are hydrogen and helium.
• It also discovered 10 new moons and two new rings in addition to the previously-known nine rings, among other significant findings.
• Neptune: Voyager 2 became the first human-made object to fly by Neptune in 1989.
• It discovered the new moons and rings, it also found that Neptune is more active than previously thought, winds on the planet blow at the speed of 1,100 kph.
• The spacecraft also observed the Great Dark Spot, which was essentially a huge spinning storm in the southern atmosphere of Neptune and it was about the size of the entire Earth.
• Interstellar space: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were sent out of our solar system. Voyager 1 left in August 2012, followed by Voyager 2 in November 2018.
• This was important for astronomers to locate the border of interstellar space, which is hard to measure from within our solar system. They found that it begins a bit over 18 billion kilometers from the sun.
  • Scientists define the beginning of interstellar space as the place where the Sun's constant flow of material and magnetic field stop affecting its surroundings.

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Question: Which of the following pair(s) is/are correctly matched? (UPSC-2014)

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3