Voyager 2, a pioneer in outer photo voltaic system exploration, left Earth for interstellar area 49 years in the past, on August 20, 1977.
The twin of Voyager 1, which left Earth just a few weeks after, is the one spacecraft to go to all 4 of the photo voltaic system’s outer gasoline giants — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
The Voyager probes had been initially despatched on a four-year mission to tour the photo voltaic system, however they exceeded expectations and are nonetheless going practically half a century later. That makes them NASA’s longest-lived mission, costing the company greater than $865 million.
The 2 probes have had their fair proportion of interstellar road bumps, which have solely been exacerbated because the probes age. In 2022, Voyager 1 began sending garbled information from outdoors the photo voltaic system. NASA finally found out that one among its computer systems had gone useless years earlier.
Voyager 2 fell into limbo in 2023, dropping contact with NASA after somebody despatched a flawed command. The company detected a faint signal from Voyager days later after blasting a “shout” throughout the cosmos to get the probe to level its antennae again to Earth and resume communication.
Come November 2026, Voyager 1 shall be 16 billion miles — or one light-day — away from Earth. Voyager 2, in the meantime, shall be greater than 13.2 billion miles from Earth, touring via interstellar area — the area between stars — at 34,000 mph relative to the Solar.
Whereas each probes are dropping about 4 watts of energy every year, NASA continues to make efforts to maintain them exploring.
In August, the company introduced it substituted some gadgets on Voyager 2 with “lower-power options whereas making certain the spacecraft stays heat sufficient to function.” This, it stated, ought to hold the probe’s instruments running for a minimum of one other yr. NASA plans to make the identical change for Voyager 1.
To have fun Voyager 2’s forty ninth birthday, listed here are 23 photographs that present its historical past and what each probes have seen among the many cosmos.
Voyager 2 launched from Cape Canaveral Air Power Station in Florida in August 1977.
: Hum Pictures/Common Pictures Group by way of Getty Pictures
The Voyager probes carry 11 completely different scientific devices to check planetary our bodies, magnetic fields, and particles.
NASA/Hulton Archive/Getty Pictures
The Voyager probes had been designed to go to Jupiter and Saturn.
NASA
That is what Voyager 1 noticed on its strategy to Jupiter.
NASA/JPL
The probes found two new moons orbiting Jupiter: Thebe and Metis.
NASA/JPL
Additionally they noticed a skinny ring round Jupiter.
NASA/JPL
Voyager 1 found volcanoes on the floor of Io, one among Jupiter’s moons.
NASA/JPL
Subsequent cease: Saturn.
NASA/JPL
Voyager snapped Saturn’s rings in additional element than ever earlier than.
NASA
Images confirmed secrets and techniques that Enceladus, the sixth-biggest of Saturn’s practically 300 moons, needed to provide.
NASA/JPL
Saturn, snapped because the probe flew away, was proven in a brand new gentle.
NASA/JPL
By 1986, Voyager 2 had made it to Uranus.
NASA/JPL
Voyager 2 additionally noticed 10 beforehand unseen moons round Uranus.
NASA/JPL
Voyager 2 was the primary spacecraft to look at Neptune from a detailed distance.
NASA/JPL
Voyager 2 was the primary spacecraft to go by Neptune.
NASA/JPL
Voyager 2 took this image of Triton’s tough face.
NASA/JPL
It additionally snapped Triton’s southern hemisphere.
NASA/JPL
Because it flew by, Voyager 2 found 4 of Neptune’s rings.
NASA/JPL
As its parting reward, Voyager 2 took this lovely image of sunshine grazing Neptune’s south pole.
NASA/JPL
Voyager 1 had one final trick up its sleeve.
NASA/JPL
It gave us the Earth’s furthest selfie, dubbed the “pale blue dot.”
NASA
Past the photo voltaic system
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Even after their devices are switched off, the probes’ mission continues.
NASA/Insider
