Voyagers in Space

Voyagers in Space

One Tough Job When the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977, they had a tough job ahead. Their mission was to explore Jupiter and Saturn, two giant planets in the outer solar system. Their journey would be long and difficult. If something broke, the space probes would just have to make do with what they had.

Scientists built the Voyagers to be tough. Their computers were set up to deal with problems that might happen. Those computers would be toys by today's standards, though. They are thousands of times less powerful than a modern cell phone! Scientists guessed that the Voyagers would only last about five years. More than thirty-five years later, the twin spacecraft are still sending information back to Earth.

Planning The Voyager launches were carefully timed. In the late 1970s, the four outer planets' orbits placed them in a nearly straight line. With the planets so close together, it became possible to visit several of them during the same trip. Unfortunately, the rockets that launched the Voyagers into space could only get them to Jupiter-about halfway to Saturn. Scientists solved that problem by using Jupiter's strong gravity to give the spacecraft a boost as it passed by.

The Main Task At first, the Voyagers' mission was to study Jupiter and Saturn, their larger moons, and Saturn's rings. The spacecraft carried cameras and scientific instruments. Using these instruments, the Voyagers collected information that changed how we understand our solar system.

Jupiter The Voyagers' first target was Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet. Humans had already studied Jupiter through telescopes, but the Voyagers sent back new information. They showed that the Great Red Spot was a huge, constantly spinning storm. They discovered a faint ring surrounding Jupiter, like the ones around Saturn. They also found ice sheets on one of Jupiter's moons and volcanoes on another.