A major factor in the initiation of this spacecraft mission was the coincidental alignment of the outer planets would occur in the late 1970s and enable a single probe to visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune by taking advantage of the then-new technique of gravity assists. Since the Voyager II was to go out of man’s reach, the structure design, communications, and the spacecraft’s power had to be genuinely unique to last centuries out in the vastness of space. Its launch site was at Cape Canaveral on August 20, 1977, aboard a Titan-Centaur rocket. It flew by Jupiter on July 9, 1979; Saturn on August 25, 1981; Uranus on January 24, 1986; Neptune on August 25, 1989. According to NASA, by 2030, Voyager 2 is expected to cross the heliopause-the
JUNO is a NASA mission to the planet Jupiter. The Juno spacecraft is scheduled to launch aboard an Atlas V-551 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in Aug. 2011. (www.nasa.gov). It will take 5 years to reach Jupiter, arriving in July 2016. It will orbit Jupiter 33 times. The purpose of the mission is to explore Jupiter’s structure and atmosphere. The main aim of this mission is to understand how the planet Jupiter originated and thus help us understand the evolution of the gas giants. This knowledge will also reflect upon our understanding of the origins of the Universe. The spacecraft will be placed in a polar orbit to study the planet's composition, gravity field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere. Juno will also search to see whether the planet has a rocky core and investigate the amount of water present within the planet’s atmosphere. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA is managing the Juno mission for Dr. Scott Bolton of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. The spacecraft is being built by Lockheed Martin of Denver. Scientists from 5 countries ha...
Saturn, one of the four gas planets in the solar system, is no doubt the most mysterious. The puzzling questions about this extraordinary planet has had scientists wondering and researching since it was first discovered. Now that NASA has sent missions to Saturn, we are starting to understand more and more. Saturn is a unique planet because of its magnificent size, its rare atmosphere, and several rings unlike any other planet.
Have you ever looked up into the night skies and wondered what might be out there? One question I always wonder is where in the universe might there be a livable planet? Well the answer might be closer than you think, well actually 588 million kilometers away from earth. Jupiter of course is what I’m talking about. Fell first let’s ask the why we might move. Let’s face it earth is not going to be able to be habitable forever in fact ate the rate humans are polluting the atmosphere earth won’t be around that much longer. So might need a new place to live. So could the answer be Jupiter? Before that we need to know a little about the new planet and if it’s able to sustain life. Let’s start with the Jupiter’s history. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter was named after the king of the gods and Roman mythology. The ancient Greeks named the planet after Zeus, the king of the Greek pantheon. In 1610, a man that goes by the name “Galileo Galilei” was looking through his homemade telescope when he came across Jupiter. He notice four objects circling Jupiter and described them as "four fixed stars, totally invisible by their smallness" it was there were he discovered four large moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, which underwent several name change but are now known as the Galilean moons. This was the first time celestial bodies were seen circling an object other then Earth. Jupiter spins faster than any other planet, taking 10 hours to complete a turn on its axis, compared to that of 24 hours for Earth. This rapid spin makes Jupiter bulge at the equator and flatten at the poles, making the planet about 7 percent wider at the equator than at the poles. This is Jupiter and this is Jupiter next to the earth. Jup...
How many people can remember where they were when the first man-made object left the bounds of our solar system? How many people can even remember what that object was? It was the Pioneer X spacecraft, and it left the solar system in mid-1987 without much fanfare. Think of it, the first object from earth that has broken through the realm of our solar system went relatively unnoticed. In terms of our position in the vastness of space, the walk on the moon was a trip to the house next door; Pioneer left our neighborhood completely to search for the answers to some of our most basic questions about the origins and nature of the universe. It carried with it a plaque to announce our existence and position in the galaxy to any alien civilization who found it. In the grand scheme of things the Pioneer X and XI de...
Although Pluto was discovered in 1930, limited information on the distant planet delayed a realistic understanding of its characteristics. Today Pluto remains the only planet that has not been visited by a spacecraft, yet an increasing amount of information is unfolding about this peculiar planet. The uniqueness of Pluto's orbit, rotational relationship with its satellite, spin axis, and light variations all give the planet a certain appeal.
"Our Solar System: Galileo's Observations of the Moon, Jupiter, Venus and the Sun." Solar System Exploration: Science & Technology: Science Features: Our Solar System: Galileo's Observations of the Moon, Jupiter, Venus and the Sun. NASA, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. .
Uranus is so far away that scientists knew comparatively little about it before NASA's Voyager 2 undertook its historic first encounter with the planet. The spacecraft flew closely past distant Uranus, and came within 81,500 kilometers (50,600 miles) of Uranus's cloudtops on Jan. 24, 1986. Voyager 2 radioed thousands of images and mass amounts of other scientific data about Uranus, its moons, rings, atmosphere, interior and magnetic environment. However, while Voyager has revealed much about the gas giant, many questions remain to be answered.
Space exploration has came along ways since the first launch. Many break throughs and technological advances have occurred since the begging of our time of exploration in space. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA has helped further the research that has been done in space. This was accomplished by multiple missions to and from space, with different types of spacecrafts. Although some missions had fatalities, each was a learning experience to advance further in the studies of space.
"Juno Spacecraft to Slingshot past Earth En Route to Jupiter." SwRI. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. .
In the past years, many space probes have been launched for many different reasons. They have visited all of the planets in our solar system besides Pluto. The earliest space probes to be launched in the United States were the Mariner Series. They investigated Mercury, Venus, and Mars. The Mariner II flew within 35,400 km of the surface of Venus. (1) It sent information back to Earth about Venus’s atmosphere, rotation period, and information on its magnetic field. Mariner 10 has been the only space probe to reach Mercury so far. Another space probe, Helios I came within
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were both spacecrafts that were launched to Jupiter. Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, and Voyager 1 was launched 2 weeks later on September 5, 1977.
Venus, the second planet closest to the Sun and Earth’s closest neighbor, is known for its many wonders and harsh conditions. Venus is possibly the first planet discovered by humans and is said to have been first discovered in 17 B.C. by Babylonian astronomers. Venus is the first planet to be explored by spacecraft although many of these attempts have proven unsuccessful. Fortunately, more than twenty of the spacecraft explorations been proven successful, and through those we have gained knowledge about this wonder of the night sky.
Space exploration started decades ago in the 1940s, since then many significant discoveries and developments have been made in the exploration of space. Space exploration provides us with knowledge about our Solar System and helps us to understand our own planet and helps to answer questions that have intrigued humankind. Furthermore, space exploration is important because it provides the opportunity to make advancements in science and technology. Space exploration can be conducted through different ways; such as manned space flights, through telescopes and unmanned probes. Unfortunately, not all space missions go to plan and this can consequently cause a failed mission; these can be fatal and potentially cause the death of crew members and/or can cause the objective of the mission to be incomplete. Furthermore, they cause a massive functional cost which would certainly cause a setback in the exploration of space and the research and discovery element. In relation to the effects, I will be examining the following – the development of the understanding of space and the development of space exploration. Many people would argue that a failed space mission is negative. However, failed space missions can, and have, led to success and the developments of various factors – such as technology, communications and deeper scientific understanding. I plan to prove this through my project.
...s take more than twelve hours to reach Earth” (Folger 3). Voyager 2 is the further of both of the spacecrafts and will be the first craft to ever enter interstellar space (3). Since their launch, both of these space robots have been sending back data 37 years later (2). All of these robots prove more than a human ever could about the progress we can make when given the right guidance and technology.
Our knowledge gained of Titan has drastically improved since the early 1980s when Voyager flew past it. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and the second largest moon of our solar system. It has a diameter estimated roughly 40% of Earth’s moon (Titan’s Radius: 2576, Moon’s Radius: 1737) and is 80% more massive (Titan’s Mass: 1.35 x 10^23 kg, Moon’s Mass: 7.35 x 10^22 kg. Titan has a atmospheric surface pressure 50% more than of Earth’s. In addition to that, Titan is the only moon to have a dense atmosphere. Titan’s atmosphere has been calculated to be 4.5 times more dense than of Earth’s atmosphere, which can been clearly noted by the layers of haze seen. The atmosphere in Titan is approximately 1.5km and is mainly composed of nitrogen. Titan has a very similar vertical atmospheric structure to earth, Titan has a troposphere temperature of ~94-~70K, a tropopause temperature of 70.4K and a stratosphere temperature of ~70-175K.