Voyager 1
Voyager spacecraft
Organization	NASA
Mission type	Flyby
Flyby of	Jupiter and Saturn
Launch date	September 5, 1977 (11237 days ago)
Launch vehicle	Titan IIIE Centaur rocket
Mission duration	undefined (11237 days since launch)
NSSDC ID	1977-084A
Webpage	NASA Voyager website
Mass	721. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program Events 1590 - Alexander Farnese 's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the siege of Paris. Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays Titan was a family of US expendable Rockets used between 1959 and 2005 Centaur is a Rocket stage designed for use as the upper stage of space Launch vehicles Centaur boosts its Satellite payload to its final Orbit A rocket or rocket vehicle is a Missile, Aircraft or other Vehicle which obtains Thrust by the reaction of the The International Designator (or NSSDC ID) is an international naming convention for Satellites It consists of the launch year a 3-digit incrementing launch number 9 kg (1,592 lb)
Power	420 W

Trajectory of Voyager 1 using Celestia

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram robotic space probe of the outer solar system and beyond, launched September 5, 1977, and currently operational. Celestia is a 3-D Astronomy program created by Chris Laurel The program is based on the Hipparcos Catalogue (HIP and allows users to travel through an extensive A robotic spacecraft is a Spacecraft with no humans on board that is usually under Telerobotic control A space probe is a scientific Space exploration mission in which a Robotic spacecraft leaves the Gravity well of Earth and approaches the The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by Gravity. Events 1590 - Alexander Farnese 's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the siege of Paris. Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays It visited Jupiter and Saturn and was the first probe to provide detailed images of the moons of these planets.

Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object from Earth, traveling away from both the Earth and the Sun at a relatively faster speed than any other probe. EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System. ^[1] Though its sister-craft, Voyager 2, was launched one month earlier, Voyager 2 will never pass Voyager 1. Voyager 2 is an unmanned Interplanetary Spacecraft launched on August 20, 1977. Neither will the New Horizons mission to Pluto, despite being launched from Earth at a faster speed than both Voyager craft, since during its flight Voyager 1 benefited from a number of gravity assisted speed boosts. New Horizons is a Robotic spacecraft mission by NASA currently underway In Orbital mechanics and Aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot, gravity assist or swing-by is the use of the relative movement and ^[2]

As of March 7, 2008, Voyager 1 is over 15. Events 161 - Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by co-Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common 80 terameters (15. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International 80×10¹² meters, or 15. 80×10⁹ km, 105. 9 AU, 14. The astronomical unit ( AU or au or au or sometimes ua) is a unit of Length based on the distance from the Earth to the 62 light-hours, or 9. 82 billion miles) from the Sun, and has thus entered the heliosheath, the termination shock region between the solar system and interstellar space, a vast area where the Sun's influence gives way to the other bodies in the galaxy. The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the Interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the Galaxy) by the The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the Interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the Galaxy) by the If Voyager 1 is still functioning when it finally passes the heliopause, scientists will get their first direct measurements of the conditions in the interstellar medium. The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the Interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the Galaxy) by the At this distance, signals from Voyager 1 take more than fourteen hours to reach its control center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a joint project of NASA and Caltech in Pasadena, California. The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech) is a private, Coeducational research university located in Pasadena Pasadena ( is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Voyager 1 is on a hyperbolic trajectory and has achieved escape velocity, meaning that its orbit will not return to the inner solar system. In Astrodynamics or Celestial mechanics a hyperbolic trajectory is a Kepler orbit with the eccentricity greater than 1 In Physics, escape velocity is the speed where the Kinetic energy of an object is equal to the magnitude of its Gravitational potential energy Along with Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 2, and New Horizons, Voyager 1 is an interstellar probe. Pioneer 10 ( Pioneer-F) was the first Spacecraft to travel through the Asteroid belt, which it entered on July 15, 1972 Pioneer 11 was the second mission (after its sister probe Pioneer 10) to investigate Jupiter and the Outer solar system and the first to explore the planet Voyager 2 is an unmanned Interplanetary Spacecraft launched on August 20, 1977. New Horizons is a Robotic spacecraft mission by NASA currently underway An interstellar probe is a Space probe which has left -- or is expected to leave -- the Solar system and enter interstellar space (typically defined as

Voyager 1 had as its primary targets the planets Jupiter and Saturn and their associated moons and rings; its current mission is the detection of the heliopause and particle measurements of solar wind and the interstellar medium. The solar wind is a Stream of charged particles&mdasha plasma &mdashthat are ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. Both Voyager probes have far outlasted their originally intended lifespan. Each is powered by three radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which are now expected to continue to generate enough power to let the probes keep communicating with Earth until at least the year 2020. A radioisotope thermoelectric generator ( RTG, RITEG) is an Electrical generator which obtains its power from Radioactive decay.

Mission profile

Voyager 1 lifted off with a Titan 3E Centaur

Voyager 1 was originally planned as Mariner 12 of the Mariner program, because it was launched after Voyager 2/"Mariner 11". The Titan IIIC was a space booster used by the United States Air Force. Centaur is a Rocket stage designed for use as the upper stage of space Launch vehicles Centaur boosts its Satellite payload to its final Orbit The Mariner program was a program conducted by the American space agency NASA that launched a series of robotic interplanetary probes From the outset, it was designed to take advantage of the then-new technique of gravity assist. In Orbital mechanics and Aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot, gravity assist or swing-by is the use of the relative movement and Luckily, the development of interplanetary probes coincided with an alignment of the planets called the Grand Tour. The Planetary Grand Tour was an ambitious plan to send unmanned probes to the outermost planets of the solar system The Grand Tour was a linked series of gravity assists that, with only the minimal fuel needed for course corrections, would enable a single probe to visit all four of the solar system's gas giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by Gravity. A gas giant (sometimes also known as a Jovian planet after the planet Jupiter, or giant planet) is a large Planet that is not primarily A planet, as defined by the International Astronomical Union (IAU is a celestial body Orbiting a Star or stellar remnant that is Neptune ( English|AmE] ] is the eighth and farthest Planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The identical Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes were designed with the possibility of a Grand Tour in mind, and their launches were timed to enable the Grand Tour if things went well. However, the two Voyagers were only funded by Congress as Jupiter-Saturn probes.

Because of this planetary alignment, Voyager could visit each of these planets in just twelve years, instead of the 30 that would usually be required.

Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977 by NASA from Cape Canaveral aboard a Titan IIIE Centaur rocket, shortly after its sister craft, Voyager 2 on August 20, 1977. Events 1590 - Alexander Farnese 's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the siege of Paris. Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program Cape Canaveral from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County Florida, United States, near the center of that Titan was a family of US expendable Rockets used between 1959 and 2005 Centaur is a Rocket stage designed for use as the upper stage of space Launch vehicles Centaur boosts its Satellite payload to its final Orbit A rocket or rocket vehicle is a Missile, Aircraft or other Vehicle which obtains Thrust by the reaction of the Voyager 2 is an unmanned Interplanetary Spacecraft launched on August 20, 1977. Events 636 - Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of Syria and Palestine Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays Despite being launched after Voyager 2, Voyager 1 was sent on a faster trajectory so it reached Jupiter and Saturn before its sister craft.

For details on the Voyager instrument packages, see the separate article on the Voyager program. See also Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. The Voyager program consists of a pair of unmanned scientific probes Voyager 1 and

Jupiter

Voyager 1 began photographing Jupiter in January 1979. Its closest approach to Jupiter was on March 5, 1979, at a distance of 349,000 kilometers (217,000 miles) from its center. Events 363 - Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a Year 1979 ( MCMLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1979 Gregorian calendar) The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States Due to the greater resolution allowed by close approach, most observations of the moons, rings, magnetic fields, and radiation environment of the Jupiter system were made in the 48-hour period bracketing closest approach. It finished photographing the planet in April.

The two Voyager spacecraft made a number of important discoveries about Jupiter and its satellites. The most surprising was the existence of volcanic activity on Io, which had not been observed from the ground or by Pioneer 10 or 11. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the TemplateInfobox Planet.--> Io (ˈaɪoʊ, or as Greek Pioneer 10 ( Pioneer-F) was the first Spacecraft to travel through the Asteroid belt, which it entered on July 15, 1972 Pioneer 11 was the second mission (after its sister probe Pioneer 10) to investigate Jupiter and the Outer solar system and the first to explore the planet

Voyager 1 time lapse movie of Jupiter approach.	The Great Red Spot as seen from Voyager 1.	Color picture of Io, Jupiter's innermost Galilean satellite.	False color detail of Jupiter's atmosphere, as imaged by Voyager 1.
Valhalla crater on Callisto. Image taken by Voyager 1 in 1979.

Saturn

The gravity assist at Jupiter was successful, and the spacecraft went on to visit Saturn. Voyager 1's Saturn flyby occurred in November 1980, with the closest approach on November 12, 1980 when it came within 124,000 kilometres (77,000 mi) of the planet's cloud-tops. Events 764 - Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days Year 1980 ( MCMLXXX) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar) The craft detected complex structures in Saturn's rings, and studied the atmospheres of Saturn and Titan. TemplateInfobox Planet.--> Titan (ˈtaɪtən, or as Because of the earlier discovery of a thick atmosphere on Titan, the Voyager controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory elected for Voyager 1 to make a close approach of Titan and terminate its Grand Tour. (For the continuation of the Grand Tour, see the Uranus and Neptune sections of the Voyager 2 article. Voyager 2 is an unmanned Interplanetary Spacecraft launched on August 20, 1977. ) The Titan-approach trajectory caused an additional gravitional deflection that took Voyager 1 out of the plane of the ecliptic, thus ending its planetary science mission. The ecliptic is the apparent path that the Sun traces out in the sky during the year Voyager 1 could have been given an altered trajectory, whereupon the slingshot effect of Saturn's gravity would have propelled the spacecraft to a rendezvous with Pluto, but this option was not exercised, because the different trajectory would have prohibited the close fly-by of Titan, which was a higher scientific priority at the time. ^[3]

Voyager 1 image of Saturn from 5. 3 million km, four days after its closest approach.

Layers of haze covering Saturn's satellite Titan.

Titan's thick haze layer is shown in this enhanced Voyager 1 image.

Voyager 1 image of Saturn's F ring.

Interstellar mission

It is estimated that both Voyager crafts have sufficient electrical power to operate their radio transmitters until at least after 2025, which will be over 48 years after launch. ^[4]

Heliopause

Voyager 1 is in the heliosheath. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 37 - The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius ' will and proclaims Caligula emperor The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the Interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the Galaxy) by the

As Voyager 1 heads for interstellar space, its instruments continue to study the solar system; Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists are using the plasma wave experiments aboard Voyager 1 and 2 to look for the heliopause. Waves in plasmas are an interconnected set of particles and fields which propagates in a periodically repeating fashion The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the Interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the Galaxy) by the

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory believe that Voyager 1 entered the termination shock in February 2003. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL located in Laurel Maryland, is a not-for-profit university-affiliated research center employing The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the Interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the Galaxy) by the ^[5] Some other scientists have expressed doubt, discussed in the journal Nature of November 6, 2003. Nature is a prominent Scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869 Events 355 - Roman Emperor Constantius II promotes his cousin Julian to the rank of Caesar, entrusting him with Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ^[6] In a scientific session at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans on the morning of May 25, 2005, Dr. The American Geophysical Union (or AGU) is a nonprofit organization of Geophysicists consisting of over 50000 members from over 135 countries New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Ed Stone presented evidence that Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock in December 2004. "SH22A-01" The issue will not be resolved until other data becomes available, since Voyager 1's solar-wind detector ceased functioning in 1990. However, in May 2005 a NASA press release said that consensus was that Voyager 1 was now in the heliosheath. The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the Interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the Galaxy) by the ^[7] Scientists believe the craft will reach the heliopause in 2015. The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the Interstellar medium (the hydrogen and helium gas that permeates the Galaxy) by the

Golden record

Main article: Voyager Golden Record

Included in the spacecraft is one of the two Voyager Golden Records. The Voyager Golden Record is a Phonograph record included in the two Voyager Spacecraft launched in 1977 The Voyager Golden Record is a Phonograph record included in the two Voyager Spacecraft launched in 1977 This phonograph record contains sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. A gramophone It is intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or far future humans, that may find it. Extraterrestrial life is Life originating outside of the Earth.

Current status

As of May 22, 2008, Voyager 1 was at a distance of 106. 4 AU (approximately 15. The astronomical unit ( AU or au or au or sometimes ua) is a unit of Length based on the distance from the Earth to the 92 terameters or 0. The metre or meter is a unit of Length. It is the basic unit of Length in the Metric system and in the International 0017 light years) from the Sun, which makes it the most distant human-made object from Earth. ^[8] At this distance, it is more distant from the Sun than any known natural solar system object, including 90377 Sedna. TemplateInfobox Planet.--> 90377 Sedna (ˈsɛdnə) is a Trans-Neptunian Though Sedna has an orbit that takes it 975 AU away from the Sun at aphelion, as of 2006 it is less than 90 AU away from the Sun and approaching its perihelion at 76 AU. In Celestial mechanics, an apsis, plural apsides (ˈæpsɨdɪːz is the point of greatest or least distance of the Elliptical orbit of an object from In Celestial mechanics, an apsis, plural apsides (ˈæpsɨdɪːz is the point of greatest or least distance of the Elliptical orbit of an object from ^[9][10]

Current location and trajectories of Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft

At the above distance, light or radio waves, which travel at 299,792. 5 kilometers per second (63,241. 1 AU/year or 670,616,629 miles per hour), take over 14. 6 hours to reach the Earth from Voyager 1. As a basis for comparison, the Moon is about 1. 4 light-seconds from Earth, the Sun is approximately 8. 5 light-minutes away, Pluto is about 5. 5 light-hours, and the nearest star is 4. Proxima Centauri ( Latin la ''proximus proxima proximum'' meaning 'next to' or 'nearest to' is a Red dwarf Star approximately 4 3 light-years away. As of May 2008, the spacecraft was traveling at a speed of 17. 1 kilometers per second relative to the sun (3. 6 AU per year or 38,400 miles per hour), 10% faster than Voyager 2. Voyager 2 is an unmanned Interplanetary Spacecraft launched on August 20, 1977. Accurate information concerning its location can be found in this NASA paper with heliocentric coordinates of both probes extrapolated up to 2015.

Voyager 1 is not heading towards any particular star, but in about 40,000 years it will be within 1. 6 light years of the star AC+79 3888 in the Ophiuchus constellation. Ophiuchus (Ὀφιοῦχος ˌɒfiːˈuːkəs is one of the 88 Constellations and was also one of the 48 listed by Ptolemy. ^[11]

On March 31, 2006, the amateur radio operators from AMSAT in Germany tracked and received radio waves from Voyager 1 using the 20-metre (66 ft) dish at Bochum with a long integration technique. See also Amateur radio An amateur radio operator is an individual who typically uses equipment at an Amateur radio station to engage in two-way AMSAT is a name for Amateur radio Satellite organizations world-wide but in particular the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT-NA with headquarters Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Bochum (ˈboːχʊm is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Its data were checked and verified against data from the Deep Space Network station at Madrid, Spain. The Deep Space Network, or DSN, is an international network of communication facilities that supports Interplanetary Spacecraft missions and Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. ^[12] This is believed to be the first such tracking of Voyager 1.

Voyager 1, as of May 2008, is at 12. 45° declination and 17. 125 hours right ascension, placing it in the constellation Ophiuchus. Ophiuchus (Ὀφιοῦχος ˌɒfiːˈuːkəs is one of the 88 Constellations and was also one of the 48 listed by Ptolemy. NASA continues daily tracking of the spacecraft with the Deep Space Network stations. The Deep Space Network, or DSN, is an international network of communication facilities that supports Interplanetary Spacecraft missions and

See also

• Voyager program
• Voyager Golden Record
• Voyager 2
• Pioneer 10
• Pioneer 11
• Pale Blue Dot
• Family Portrait (Voyager)

References

External links

• NASA Voyager website
• Voyager Spacecraft Lifetime — interstellar mission coverage. Events 1085 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo Spain back from the Moors. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common
• Voyager 1 Mission Profile by NASA's Solar System Exploration
• Voyager 1 (NSSDC Master Catalog)
• Spacecraft Escaping the Solar System — current positions and diagrams
• Weekly Mission Reports — includes information on current spacecraft state
• We Are Here: The Pale Blue Dot. A short film on The Pale Blue Dot picture taken by Voyager. Narrated by Carl Sagan.