Voyager 2's 45th Birthday

[JoeWeber 2,720]

And, in 16 day's it will be Voyager 1's 45th Birthday. What amazing examples of human capacities they are and what amazing science and knowledge they have provided. Just imagine what we might know now if instead of spending trillions to send people into space we would have sent a few probes like those each succeeding year but with the latest technological advances and abilities. We already might know if Europa or Enceladus harbor life, how cool would that be?

[ryoder 1,590]

I thought you were confused until I looked it up; Voyager 2 did indeed launch before Voyager 1. WTH?

[kleggo 145]

On 8/21/2022 at 10:17 AM, JoeWeber said:

We already might know if Europa or Enceladus harbor life, how cool would that be?

Wasn't that answered in 2010 by Clarke?

:-)

[jakee 1,489]

On 8/21/2022 at 7:57 PM, ryoder said:

I thought you were confused until I looked it up; Voyager 2 did indeed launch before Voyager 1. WTH?

Assume the reason is that because of their different flight plans Voyager 1 overtook 2 quite quickly, was the first of them to overtake the Pioneers, and the first ever man made object to reach interstellar space. Makes more sense for number one to be the leader.

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

10 minutes ago, jakee said:

Assume the reason is that because of their different flight plans Voyager 1 overtook 2 quite quickly, was the first of them to overtake the Pioneers, and the first ever man made object to reach interstellar space. Makes more sense for number one to be the leader.

Yup. Got there first, was called '#1'.

[GeorgiaDon 362]

Sort of, but not because of reaching interstellar space first.

According to NASA:

"Voyager 2 launched on Aug. 20, 1977, about two weeks before the Sept. 5 launch of Voyager 1. 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."

[murps2000 86]

9 hours ago, GeorgiaDon said:

Sort of, but not because of reaching interstellar space first.

According to NASA:

"Voyager 2 launched on Aug. 20, 1977, about two weeks before the Sept. 5 launch of Voyager 1. 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."

There’s a bit more to that story. Saturn’s moon titan was so worth a look that the decision was made to do a flyby with Voyager 1 and that meant that it could no longer continue on the same grand tour out to Uranus & Neptune as Voyager 2. In retrospect, I’m not sure it was worth it. Titan revealed few secrets on that flyby due to its thick, opaque atmosphere so Voyager 1 passed by and exited the solar system out of the top so to speak. Still, titan was definitely worth checking out and Cassini-Huygens did a good job with that a couple of decades later. Some JPL scientists worked on both missions and had to wait a long time to satisfy their curiosity.