VOYAGER 2

Last updated: 11/06/2019

An alignment of the outer planets that occurs only once in 176 years prompted NASA to plan a grand tour of the outer planets, consisting of dual launches to Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in 1976-77 and dual launches to Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune in 1979. The original scheme was canceled for budgetary reasons but was replaced by Voyager 1 and 2, which accomplished similar goals at a significantly lower cost.  

The two Voyager spacecraft were designed to explore Jupiter and Saturn in greater detail than the two Pioneers (Pioneers 10 and 11) that preceded them had been able to do. Each Voyager was equipped with a slow-scan color TV to take live television images from the planets, and each carried an extensive suite of instruments to record magnetic, atmospheric, lunar, and other data about the planets. The original design of the spacecraft was based on that of the older Mariners. Power was provided by three plutonium oxide radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) mounted at the end of a boom.

Although launched about two weeks before Voyager 1, Voyager 2 exited the asteroid belt after its twin and followed it to Jupiter and Saturn. The primary radio receiver failed on 5 April 1978, placing the mission's fate on the backup unit, which has been used ever since. A fault in this backup receiver severely limits its bandwidth, but the mission has been a major success despite this obstacle. All of the experiments on Voyager 2 have produced useful data. 

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