voyager 2 main mission

• The Contents
• The Making of
• Where Are They Now
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Q & A with Ed Stone

golden record

Where are they now.

• frequently asked questions
• Q&A with Ed Stone

Mission Status

Instrument status.

Where are the Voyagers now?

To learn more about Voyager, zoom in and give the spacecraft a spin. View the full interactive experience at Eyes on the Solar System . Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

View Voyager

Space Flight Operations Schedule (SFOS)

SFOS files showing Voyager activity on Deep Space Network (DSN)

2024 Tracking Schedule

2023 tracking schedule, 2022 tracking schedule, 2021 tracking schedule, 2020 tracking schedule, 2019 tracking schedule, 2018 tracking schedule, 2017 tracking schedule, 2016 tracking schedule, 2015 tracking schedule, 2014 tracking schedule, 2013 tracking schedule, 2012 tracking schedule, 2011 tracking schedule, 2010 tracking schedule, 2009 tracking schedule, 2008 tracking schedule, 2007 tracking schedule, 2006 tracking schedule, 2005 tracking schedule, 2004 tracking schedule, 2003 tracking schedule, 2002 tracking schedule, 2001 tracking schedule, 2000 tracking schedule, 1999 tracking schedule, 1998 tracking schedule, 1997 tracking schedule, 1996 tracking schedule, 1995 tracking schedule, 1994 tracking schedule.

• April 4, 2024 | MIT’s AI Breakthrough: Pioneering New Antibiotics To Combat MRSA
• April 4, 2024 | Effective Anger Management: Chilling Out vs. Blowing Off Steam
• April 4, 2024 | Chilling Revelations: Ice Shells Expose Alien Ocean Temperatures
• April 3, 2024 | Could Modified RNA Be the Key to Healing Neurodegeneration Caused by Brain Disorders Like Alzheimer’s?
• April 3, 2024 | A Lunar Orbit That’s Just Right for Humanity’s First Space Station Around the Moon

Major Accomplishments of NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 Spacecraft

By Elizabeth Landau, Jet Propulsion Laboratory August 1, 2017

This montage of images of the planets visited by Voyager 2 was prepared from an assemblage of images taken by the 2 Voyager spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL

Below is a short list of the major accomplishments to date of NASA ’s groundbreaking Voyager 1 and 2 Spacecraft during their 40 years of exploration.

Planetary Firsts

Launched in 1977, the Voyagers delivered many surprises and discoveries from their encounters with the gas giants of the outer solar system: Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus and Neptune . Between 1977 and 1990, the mission attained these distinctions:

• First spacecraft to fly by all four planets of the outer solar system (Voyager 2)
• 3 new moons at Jupiter
• 4 new moons at Saturn
• 11 new moons at Uranus
• 6 new moons at Neptune
• First spacecraft to fly by four different target planets (Voyager 2)
• First spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune (Voyager 2)
• First spacecraft to image the rings of Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune (Voyager 2)
• First spacecraft to discover active volcanoes beyond Earth (on Jupiter’s moon Io — Voyager 1)
• First spacecraft to detect lightning on a planet other than Earth (at Jupiter — Voyager 1)
• First spacecraft to find suggestions of an ocean beyond Earth (at Jupiter’s moon Europa — both spacecraft)
• First spacecraft to detect a nitrogen-rich atmosphere found beyond our home planet (at Saturn’s moon Titan — Voyager 1)

Heliophysics Firsts

After Voyager 1 departed from Saturn in November 1980, it began a journey to where no human-made object had ever gone before: the space between the stars. On August 25, 2012, it crossed over into interstellar space, leaving behind the heliosphere — the enormous magnetic bubble encompassing our Sun, planets, and solar wind. Voyager 2 set course for interstellar space after departing from Neptune in August 1989, and is expected to enter interstellar space in the next few years. Together the Voyagers have taught us a great deal about the extent of our sun’s influence and the very nature of the space that lies beyond our planets.

• First spacecraft to leave the heliosphere and enter interstellar space (Voyager 1)
• First spacecraft to measure full intensity of cosmic rays — atoms accelerated to nearly the speed of light — in interstellar space (Voyager 1)
• First spacecraft to measure magnetic field in interstellar space (Voyager 1)
• First spacecraft to measure density of interstellar medium — material ejected by ancient supernovae (Voyager 1)
• First spacecraft to measure solar wind termination shock — the boundary where solar wind charged particles slow below the speed of sound as they begin to press into the interstellar medium (Voyager 2)

Engineering and Computing Firsts and Records

The Voyagers, which launched with nearly identical configurations and instruments, were designed to withstand the harsh radiation environment of Jupiter — the greatest physical challenge they would ever encounter. Preparations for the peril at Jupiter ensured that the Voyagers would be well-equipped for the rest of their journeys, too. Engineering and computing advances that the Voyagers debuted set the stage for future missions.

• First spacecraft extensively protected against radiation, which also set the standard for radiation design margin still in use for space missions today
• First spacecraft protected against external electrostatic discharges
• First spacecraft with programmable computer-controlled attitude and articulation (which means the pointing of the spacecraft)
• First spacecraft with autonomous fault protection, able to detect its own problems and take corrective action
• First use of Reed-Solomon code for spacecraft data — an algorithm to reduce errors in data transmission and storage, which is widely used today
• First time engineers linked ground communications antennas together in an array to be able to receive more data (for Voyager 2’s Uranus encounter)

Beyond that, the Voyager spacecraft continue setting endurance and distance records:

• Longest continuously operating spacecraft (Voyager 2, which passed Pioneer 6’s record on August 13, 2012)
• Most distant spacecraft from the Sun (Voyager 1, which passed Pioneer 10’s distance on February 17, 1998 and is currently about 13 billion miles, or 21 billion kilometers, away)

The Voyager spacecraft were built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, which continues to operate both. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena. The Voyager missions are a part of the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

More on SciTechDaily

NASA’s Longest-Lived Mission: Voyager Probes Log 45 Years in Space

It’s Official – Voyager 1 Has Entered Interstellar Space

Voyager 2 Illuminates Boundary of Interstellar Space 11 Billion Miles From Earth

Voyager 2 Probe Enters Interstellar Space, Over 18 Billion Kilometers from Earth

New Discovery Reveals Why Uranus and Neptune Are Different Colors

Hear the Eerie Sounds of Interstellar Space Captured by NASA’s Voyager

Voyager Spacecraft Poised to Make New Discoveries

China’s Nuclear-Powered Mission to Neptune

1 comment on "major accomplishments of nasa’s voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft".

Great Craft ! Great contribution.. The twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft are exploring where nothing from Earth has flown before. Continuing on their more-than-40-year journey Regards Dav

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Email address is optional. If provided, your email will not be published or shared.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

NASA Mission Update: Voyager 2 Communications Pause

Artist concept showing NASA’s Voyager spacecraft against a backdrop of stars.

UPDATE, Aug. 4, 2023: NASA has reestablished full communications with Voyager 2.

The agency’s Deep Space Network facility in Canberra, Australia, sent the equivalent of an interstellar “shout” more than 12.3 billion miles (19.9 billion kilometers) to Voyager 2, instructing the spacecraft to reorient itself and turn its antenna back to Earth. With a one-way light time of 18.5 hours for the command to reach Voyager, it took 37 hours for mission controllers to learn whether the command worked. At 12:29 a.m. EDT on Aug. 4, the spacecraft began returning science and telemetry data, indicating it is operating normally and that it remains on its expected trajectory.

UPDATE, Aug. 1, 2023: Using multiple antennas, NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) was able to detect a carrier signal from Voyager 2. A carrier signal is what the spacecraft uses to send data back to Earth. The signal is too faint for data to be extracted, but the detection confirms that the spacecraft is still operating. The spacecraft also continues on its expected trajectory. Although the mission expects the spacecraft to point its antenna at Earth in mid-October, the team will attempt to command Voyager sooner, while its antenna is still pointed away from Earth. To do this, a DSN antenna will be used to “shout” the command to Voyager to turn its antenna. This intermediary attempt may not work, in which case the team will wait for the spacecraft to automatically reset its orientation in October.

Once the spacecraft’s antenna is realigned with Earth, communications should resume.

A series of planned commands sent to NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft July 21 inadvertently caused the antenna to point 2 degrees away from Earth. As a result, Voyager 2 is currently unable to receive commands or transmit data back to Earth.

Voyager 2 is located more than 12.3 billion miles (19.9 billion kilometers) from Earth, and this change has interrupted communication between Voyager 2 and the ground antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN). Data being sent by the spacecraft is no longer reaching the DSN, and the spacecraft is not receiving commands from ground controllers.

Voyager 2 is programmed to reset its orientation multiple times each year to keep its antenna pointing at Earth; the next reset will occur on Oct. 15, which should enable communication to resume. The mission team expects Voyager 2 to remain on its planned trajectory during the quiet period.

Get the Latest JPL News

Voyager 1, which is almost 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, continues to operate normally.

A division of Caltech in Pasadena, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory built and operates the Voyager spacecraft. The Voyager missions are a part of the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/voyager

News Media Contact

Calla Cofield

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

626-808-2469

[email protected]

• Become A Member
• Gift Membership
• Kids Membership
• Other Ways to Give
• Explore Worlds
• Defend Earth

How We Work

• Education & Public Outreach
• Space Policy & Advocacy
• Science & Technology
• Global Collaboration

Our Results

Learn how our members and community are changing the worlds.

Our citizen-funded spacecraft successfully demonstrated solar sailing for CubeSats.

Space Topics

• Planets & Other Worlds
• Space Missions
• Space Policy
• Planetary Radio
• Space Images

The Planetary Report

The eclipse issue.

Science and splendor under the shadow.

Get Involved

Membership programs for explorers of all ages.

Get updates and weekly tools to learn, share, and advocate for space exploration.

Volunteer as a space advocate.

Support Our Mission

• Renew Membership
• Society Projects

The Planetary Fund

Accelerate progress in our three core enterprises — Explore Worlds, Find Life, and Defend Earth. You can support the entire fund, or designate a core enterprise of your choice.

• Strategic Framework
• News & Press

The Planetary Society

Know the cosmos and our place within it.

Our Mission

Empowering the world's citizens to advance space science and exploration.

• Explore Space
• Take Action
• Member Community
• Account Center
• Eclipse 2024
• “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

The Voyager missions

Highlights Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 launched in 1977 and made a grand tour of the solar system's outer planets. They are the only functioning spacecraft in interstellar space, and they are still sending back measurements of the interstellar medium. Each spacecraft carries a copy of the golden record, a missive from Earth to any alien lifeforms that may find the probes in the future.

What are the Voyager missions?

The Voyager program consists of two spacecraft: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Voyager 2 was actually launched first, in August 1977, but Voyager 1 was sent on a faster trajectory when it launched about two weeks later. They are the only two functioning spacecraft currently in interstellar space, beyond the environment controlled by the sun.

Voyager 2’s path took it past Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981, Uranus in 1985, and Neptune in 1989. It is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus or Neptune, and has provided much of the information that we use to characterize them now.

Because of its higher speed and more direct trajectory, Voyager 1 overtook Voyager 2 just a few months after they launched. It visited Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980. It overtook Pioneer 10 — the only other spacecraft in interstellar space thus far — in 1998 and is now the most distant artificial object from Earth.

How the Voyagers work

The two spacecraft are identical, each with a radio dish 3.7 meters (12 feet) across to transmit data back to Earth and a set of 16 thrusters to control their orientations and point their dishes toward Earth. The thrusters run on hydrazine fuel, but the electronic components of each spacecraft are powered by thermoelectric generators that run on plutonium. Each carries 11 scientific instruments, about half of which were designed just for observing planets and have now been shut off. The instruments that are now off include several cameras and spectrometers to examine the planets, as well as two radio-based experiments. Voyager 2 now has five functioning instruments: a magnetometer, a spectrometer designed to investigate plasmas, an instrument to measure low-energy charged particles and one for cosmic rays, and one that measures plasma waves. Voyager 1 only has four of those, as its plasma spectrometer is broken.

Jupiter findings

Over the course of their grand tours of the solar system, the Voyagers took tens of thousands of images and measurements that significantly changed our understanding of the outer planets.

At Jupiter, they gave us our first detailed ideas of how the planet’s atmosphere moves and evolves, showing that the Great Red Spot was a counter-clockwise rotating storm that interacted with other, smaller storms. They were also the first missions to spot a faint, dusty ring around Jupiter. Finally, they observed some of Jupiter’s moons, discovering Io’s volcanism, finding the linear features on Europa that were among the first hints that it might have an ocean beneath its surface, and granting Ganymede the title of largest moon in the solar system, a superlative that was previously thought to belong to Saturn’s moon Titan.

Saturn findings

Next, each spacecraft flew past Saturn, where they measured the composition and structure of Saturn’s atmosphere , and Voyager 1 also peered into Titan’s thick haze. Its observations led to the idea that Titan might have liquid hydrocarbons on its surface, a hypothesis that has since been verified by other missions. When the two missions observed Saturn’s rings, they found the gaps and waves that are well-known today. Voyager 1 also spotted three previously-unknown moons orbiting Saturn: Atlas, Prometheus, and Pandora.

Uranus and Neptune findings

After this, Voyager 1 headed out of the solar system, while Voyager 2 headed toward Uranus . There, it found 11 previously-unknown moons and two previously-unknown rings. Many of the phenomena it observed on Uranus remained unexplained, such as its unusual magnetic field and an unexpected lack of major temperature changes at different latitudes.

Voyager 2’s final stop, 12 years after it left Earth, was Neptune. When it arrived , it continued its streak of finding new moons with another haul of 6 small satellites, as well as finding rings around Neptune. As it did at Uranus, it observed the planet’s composition and magnetic field. It also found volcanic vents on Neptune’s huge moon Triton before it joined Voyager 1 on the way to interstellar space.

Interstellar space

Interstellar space begins at the heliopause, where the solar wind – a flow of charged particles released by the sun – is too weak to continue pushing against the interstellar medium, and the pressure from the two balances out. Voyager 1 officially entered interstellar space in August 2012, and Voyager 2 joined it  in November 2018.

These exits were instrumental in enabling astronomers to determine where exactly the edge of interstellar space is, something that’s difficult to measure from within the solar system. They showed that interstellar space begins just over 18 billion kilometers (about 11 billion miles) from the sun. The spacecraft continue to send back data on the structure of the interstellar medium.

After its planetary encounters, Voyager 1 took the iconic “Pale Blue Dot” image , showing Earth from about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) away. As of 2021 , Voyager 1 is about 155 astronomical units (14.4 billion miles) from Earth, and Voyager 2 is nearly 129 astronomical units (12 billion miles) away.

The golden records

Each Voyager spacecraft has a golden phonograph record affixed to its side, intended as time capsules from Earth to any extraterrestrial life that might find the probes sometime in the distant future. They are inscribed with a message from Jimmy Carter, the U.S. President at the time of launch, which reads: “This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours.”

The covers of the records have several images inscribed, including visual instructions on how to play them, a map of our solar system’s location with respect to a set of 14 pulsars, and a drawing of a hydrogen atom. They are plated with uranium – its rate of decay will allow any future discoverers of either of the records to calculate when they were created.

The records’ contents were selected by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan. Each contains 115 images, including scientific diagrams of the solar system and its planets, the flora and fauna of Earth, and examples of human culture. There are natural sounds, including breaking surf and birdsong, spoken greetings in 55 languages, an hour of brainwave recordings, and an eclectic selection of music ranging from Beethoven to Chuck Berry to a variety of folk music.

Learn more Voyager Mission Status Bulletin Archives Experience A Message From Earth - Inspired by the Voyager Golden Record Neptune, planet of wind and ice

Support missions like Voyager 1 and 2

Whether it's advocating, teaching, inspiring, or learning, you can do something for space, right now. Let's get to work.

For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser .

• Ask An Astrobiologist
• Resources Graphic Histories Coloring Pages Heroes Posters Life in the extremes Digital Backgrounds SciComm Guild

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2

Voyager interstellar mission.

• Launch Date August 19, 1977
• Arrival Date April 08, 1979
• Mission Type Outer Solar System
• Target Outer Solar System

Mission Overview

The primary mission of the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft was to explore the outer planets of Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 launched on August 20, 1977, from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard a Titan-Centaur rocket. On September 5, Voyager 1 launched, also from Cape Canaveral aboard a Titan-Centaur rocket. The Voyager Interstellar Mission was the first to provide humankind with a close-up view of the outer planets. Between them, Voyager 1 and 2 explored all the giant planets of our outer solar system, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; 48 of their moons; and the unique system of rings and magnetic fields those planets possess.

Relevance to Astrobiology

The twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft are now exploring reaches of space where nothing from Earth has flown before. The twin spacecraft are continuing on their more-than-37-year journey that began with their respective launches in 1977. Each spacecraft is now traveling further from the Earth and the Sun than Pluto.

After making a string of discoveries there — such as active volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io and intricacies of Saturn’s rings — the mission was extended. Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, and is still the only spacecraft to have visited those outer planets. The adventurers’ current mission, the Voyager Interstellar Mission ( VIM ), will explore the outermost edge of the Sun’s domain. And beyond.

NASA Astrobiology Involvement

The Voyager mission has dramatically shaped our understanding of the Solar System and the potential for life on our system’s planets and moons. It was data from Voyager that first raised questions about the potential for liquid water beneath the icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Voyager also revealed that Saturn’s moon Titan was shrouded in a thick atmospheric haze, a finding that ultimately led to the development of the Cassini-Huygens mission. Astrobiologists today still use data from Voyager, revealing more and more clues about the worlds that circle the Sun beyond the Asteroid Belt.

Observations from the twin Voyager spacecraft suggested that an ocean might exist beneath the cracked icy crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa.

Voyager discovered that Jupiter’s moon Io was active. The spacecraft spotted erupting volcanoes on Io’s surface, making it 100 times the volcanic activity of Earth. Voyager also discovered the Io torus, a thick ring of ionized sulfur and oxygen shed by Io that inflates Jupiter’s giant magnetic field

Voyager found Saturn’s moon Titan shrouded in a deep, smoggy nitrogen atmosphere. Titan was a high priority for the Voyager flybys at Saturn. The two spacecraft saw tantalizing hints of the structure and composition of the giant moon’s dense atmosphere. This Voyager 2 photograph of Titan, taken Aug. 23, 1981 from a range of 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles), shows some detail in the cloud systems on this Saturnian moon.

The closest approach to Jupiter occurred on March 5, 1979 for Voyager 1; July 9, 1979 for Voyager 2. Voyager 1 took this photo of Jupiter and two of its satellites (Io, left, and Europa) on Feb. 13, 1979.

The closest approach to Saturn occurred on November 12, 1980 for Voyager 1; August 25, 1981 for Voyager 2. Voyager 1 captured this image of Saturn on Nov. 16, 1980.

The closest approach to Uranus occurred on January 24, 1986 by Voyager 2. The spacecraft observed a bluish orb with extremely subtle features. A haze layer hid most of the planet’s cloud features from view.

The closest approach to Neptune occurred on August 25, 1989 by Voyager 2. This contrast-enhanced image of Neptune was taken 11 days before that encounter.

As of September 2013, Voyager 2 was at a distance of 15.3 billion kilometers (102.6 AU) from the Sun.

Voyager 2 is escaping the Solar System at a speed of about 3.3 AU per year.

A total of 11,000 work years was devoted to the Voyager project through the Neptune encounter. This is equivalent to one-third the amount of effort estimated to complete the great pyramid at Giza to King Cheops.

The Voyager spacecraft appear in Issue #4 of the Astrobiology Graphic History: https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/resources/graphic-histories/

• Thursday, 04 April 2024

NSSDCA/COSPAR ID:  1977-076A

Description

Voyager 2 was one of a pair of spacecraft launched to explore the planets of the outer solar system and the interplanetary environment. Each Voyager had as its major objectives at each planet to: (1) investigate the circulation, dynamics, structure, and composition of the planet's atmosphere; (2) characterize the morphology, geology, and physical state of the satellites of the planet; (3) provide improved values for the mass, size, and shape of the planet, its satellites, and any rings; and, (4) determine the magnetic field structure and characterize the composition and distribution of energetic trapped particles and plasma therein.

Spacecraft and Subsystems

Each Voyager consisted of a decahedral bus, 47 cm in height and 1.78 m across from flat to flat. A 3.66 m diameter parabolic high-gain antenna was mounted on top of the bus. The major portion of the science instruments were mounted on a science boom extending out some 2.5 m from the spacecraft. At the end of the science boom was a steerable scan platform on which were mounted the imaging and spectroscopic remote sensing instruments. Also mounted at various distances along the science boom were the plasma and charged particle detectors. The magnetometers were located along a separate boom extending 13 m on the side opposite the science boom. A third boom, extending down and away from the science instruments, held the spacecraft's radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). Two 10 m whip antennas (used for the plasma wave and planetary radio astronomy investigations) also extended from the spacecraft, each perpendicular to the other. The spacecraft was three-axis spin stabilized to enable long integration times and selective viewing for the instruments mounted on the scan platform.

Power was provided to the spacecraft systems and instruments through the use of three radioisotope thermoelectric generators. The RTGs were assembled in tandem on a deployable boom hinged on an outrigger arrangement of struts attached to the basic structure. Each RTG unit, contained in a beryllium outer case, was 40.6 cm in diameter, 50.8 cm in length, and weighed 39 kg. The RTGs used a radioactive source (Plutonium-238 in the form of plutonium oxide, or PuO2, in this case) which, as it decayed, gave off heat. A bi-metallic thermoelectric device was used to convert the heat to electric power for the spacecraft. The total output of RTGs slowly decreases with time as the radioactive material is expended. Therefore, although the initial output of the RTGs on Voyager was approximately 470 W of 30 V DC power at launch, it had fallen off to approximately 335 W by the beginning of 1997 (about 19.5 years post-launch). As power continues to decrease, power loads on the spacecraft must also decrease. Current estimates (1998) are that increasingly limited instrument operations can be carried out at least until 2020.

Communications were provided through the high-gain antenna with a low-gain antenna for backup. The high-gain antenna supported both X-band and S-band downlink telemetry. Voyager was the first spacecraft to utilize X-band as the primary telemetry link frequency. Data could be stored for later transmission to Earth through the use of an on-board digital tape recorder.

Voyager, because of its distance from Earth and the resulting time-lag for commanding, was designed to operate in a highly-autonomous manner. In order to do this and carry out the complex sequences of spacecraft motions and instrument operations, three interconnected on-board computers were utilized. The Computer Command Subsystem (CCS) was responsible for storing commanding for the other two computers and issuing the commands at set times. The Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS) was responsible for controlling spacecraft attitude and motions of the scan platform. The Flight Data Subsystem (FDS) controlled the instruments, including changes in configuration (state) or telemetry rates. All three computers had redundant components to ensure continued operations. The AACS included redundant star trackers and Sun sensors as well.

Message in a Bottle

Each Voyager has mounted to one of the sides of the bus a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk. The disk has recorded on it sounds and images of Earth designed to portray the diversity of life and culture on the planet. Each disk is encased in a protective aluminum jacket along with a cartridge and a needle. Instructions explaining from where the spacecraft originated and how to play the disk are engraved onto the jacket. Electroplated onto a 2 cm area on the cover is also an ultra-pure source of uranium-238 (with a radioactivity of about 0.26 nanocuries and a half-life of 4.51 billion years), allowing the determination of the elapsed time since launch by measuring the amount of daughter elements to remaining U238. The 115 images on the disk were encoded in analog form. The sound selections (including greetings in 55 languages, 35 sounds, natural and man-made, and portions of 27 musical pieces) are designed for playback at 1000 rpm. The Voyagers were not the first spacecraft designed with such messages to the future. Pioneers 10 and 11, LAGEOS, and the Apollo landers also included plaques with a similar intent, though not quite so ambitious.

Mission Profile

Originally planned as a Grand Tour of the outer planets, including dual launches to Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in 1976-77 and dual launches to Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune in 1979, budgetary constraints caused a dramatic rescoping of the project to two spacecraft, each of which would go to only Jupiter and Saturn. The new mission was called Mariner Jupiter/Saturn, or MJS. It was subsequently renamed Voyager about six months prior to launch. The rescoped mission was estimated to cost $250 million (through the end of Saturn operations), only a third of what the Grand Tour design would have cost.

Voyager 2 was the first of the two spacecraft to be launched, with liftoff occurring 20 Aug. 1977. What was at first an auspicious launch, however, proved to be the beginning of a number of problems. The primary cause of the initial problems were attributed to commanding by the AACS, including difficulty in determining the full deployment of the science boom. These problems resulted in a delay of four days in the launch of Voyager 1 to ensure they wouldn't occur for it.

Although launched sixteen days after Voyager 2, Voyager 1's trajectory was the quicker one to Jupiter. On 15 Dec. 1977, while both spacecraft were in the asteroid belt, Voyager 1 surpassed Voyager 2's distance from the Sun.

Several months after launch, in April 1978, Voyager 2's primary radio receiver failed, automatically kicking in the backup receiver which proved to be faulty. Attempts to recover the use of the primary receiver failed and the backup receiver was used for the remainder of the mission. Although use of the backup receiver made communication with the spacecraft more difficult, engineers were able to find workarounds.

Voyager 2 proceeded with its primary mission and flew by Jupiter (closest approach on 09 July 1979) and Saturn (26 August 1981). During these flybys, Voyager 2 obtained images roughly equal in number to Voyager 1 (18,000 at Jupiter, 16,000 at Saturn).

Voyager 2's launch date had preserved one part of the original Grand Tour design, i.e. the possibility of an extended mission to Uranus and Neptune. Despite the difficulties encountered, scientists and engineers had been able to make Voyager enormously successful. As a result, approval was granted to extend the mission, first to Uranus, then to Neptune and later to continue observations well past Neptune. Voyager 2 made successful flybys of Uranus (24 January 1986) and Neptune (25 August 1989). Because of the additional distance of these two planets, adaptations had to made to accomodate the lower light levels and decreased communications. Voyager 2 was successfully able to obtain about 8,000 images of Uranus and its satellites. Additional improvements in the on-board software and use of image compression techniques allowed about 10,000 images of Neptune and its satellites to be taken.

All of the experiments on Voyager 2 have produced useful data.

Onward and Outward

Rechristened the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM) by NASA in 1989 after its encounter with Neptune, Voyager 2 continues operations, taking measurements of the interplanetary magnetic field, plasma, and charged particle environment while searching for the heliopause (the distance at which the solar wind becomes subsumed by the more general interstellar wind). Through the end of the Neptune phase of the Voyager project, a total of $875 million had been expended for the construction, launch, and operations of both Voyager spacecraft. An additional $30 million was allocated for the first two years of VIM.

Voyager 2 is speeding away from the Sun at a velocity of about 3.13 AU/year toward a point in the sky of RA=338 degrees, Dec=-62 degrees (-47.46 degrees ecliptic latitude, 310.89 degrees ecliptic longitude).

Alternate Names

• Mariner 77B
• Mariner Jupiter/Saturn B
• Outer Planets B
• urn:nasa:pds:context:instrument_host:spacecraft.vg2

Facts in Brief

Launch Date:  1977-08-20 Launch Vehicle:  Titan IIIE-Centaur Launch Site:  Cape Canaveral, United States Mass:  721.9 kg Nominal Power:  420 W

Funding Agency

• NASA-Office of Space Science Applications (United States)

Disciplines

• Planetary Science
• Space Physics

Additional Information

• Launch/Orbital information for Voyager 2
• Telecommunications information for Voyager 2
• Experiments on Voyager 2
• Data collections from Voyager 2

Questions and comments about this spacecraft can be directed to: Dr. Edwin V. Bell, II   Personnel

Selected references.

• Stone, E. C., How Voyager 2 has been reprogrammed, Nature , 292, No. 5825, 675-676, Aug. 1981.
• Stone, E. C., Voyager mission: Encounters with Saturn, J. Geophys. Res. , 88, No. A11, 8639-8642, doi:10.1029/JA088iA11p08639, Nov. 1983.
• Stone, E. C., and E. D. Miner, The Voyager encounter with Neptune, J. Geophys. Res. , 96, Suppl., 18903-18906, doi:10.1029/91JA02174, Oct. 1991.
• Stone, E. C., The Voyager 2 encounter with Uranus, J. Geophys. Res. , 92, No. A13, 14873-14876, doi:10.1029/JA092iA13p14873, Dec. 1987.
• Stone, E. C., The Voyager mission through the Jupiter encounters, J. Geophys. Res. , 86, No. A10, 8123-8124, doi:10.1029/JA086iA10p08123, Sept. 1981.
• Kohlhase, C. E., and P. A. Penzo, Voyager mission description, Space Sci. Rev. , 21, No. 2, 77-101, doi:10.1007/BF00200846, Nov. 1977.

Other Voyager Information/Data at NSSDCA

NSSDCA Voyager page

Data available on-line

• Voyager cruise magnetic field and plasma data from COHOWeb
• Voyager 1/2 position data in heliographic coordinates.

View selected images from the NSSDCA Photo Gallery taken by Voyager 1/2 of:

• the Solar System family

Data coverage charts for on-line, interplanetary datasets at NSSDCA, PDS, and experiment team sites for Voyager 1 and Voyager 2

Related Information/Data at NSSDCA

Other sources of voyager information/data.

Voyager project page (NASA JPL)

Cosmic Ray Subsystem (CRS) (NASA GSFC) Low-Energy Charged Particle (LECP) (JHU/APL) Magnetometer (MAG) (NASA GSFC) Plasma Science (PLS) (MIT) Plasma Wave System (PWS) (U. of Iowa)

NSSDCA Master Catalog Search

• Experiments
• Data Collections
• Publications
• New/Updated Data
• Lunar/Planetary Events
• + Privacy Policy and Important Notices
• NASA Official: Dr. David R. Williams
• Curator: E. Bell, II
• Version 5.1.15, 28 October 2022

NASA's Ingenious Efforts to Restore Voyager 1's Interstellar Communications on May，2022

V oyager 1, the venerable space probe and humanity’s most distant emissary, has encountered a communication hurdle that has persisted for months, leading to a valiant effort by NASA engineers to comprehend and rectify the anomaly.

For over 45 years, Voyager 1 has been gliding through the cosmos, and in its lifetime, it has delivered invaluable data on planets like Jupiter and Saturn, as well as a solitary image of Earth from the outskirts of our solar system. Yet, as it cruises over 15 billion miles from Earth, it faces a unique challenge: a breakdown in the way it communicates its observations and status back to ground control.

In May 2022, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) engineers noticed the glitch when Voyager 1 began transmitting nonsensical data. This data, meant to inform mission controllers about the spacecraft’s operations and scientific findings, is crucial for the continuous assessment of the mission’s health and objectives. A JPL spokesperson highlighted the efforts made to resolve the issue: “The team continues information gathering and are preparing some steps that they’re hopeful will get them on a path to either understand the root of the problem and/or solve it.”

The glitch appears to be a discord between the spacecraft’s flight data system (FDS) and its telemetry modulation unit (TMU). Normally, the FDS would collect and package data for transmission to Earth, but the TMU has been sending a repeating pattern of ones and zeroes, rendering the data unintelligible.

Despite this setback, the mission team has made a breakthrough. In March 2023, after sending a ‘poke’ to the spacecraft, a signal was received that stood out from the garbled data stream. A Deep Space Network engineer decoded this and found it contained a readout of the entire FDS’s memory, a potential treasure trove for diagnosing the problem.

The issue is compounded by the enormous distance signals must travel, taking approximately 22 hours each way, leading to a slow, iterative process of trial and error as engineers send commands and await the spacecraft’s response. It’s a process the JPL spokesperson described, noting, “After they do that, they spend a few days digesting the information they got, consulting old documents to see if they can make sense of the little bits of information they can glean from things (since the telemetry data itself is unusable), and then send another command.”

Despite the challenges, the mission team remains hopeful. The wealth of data collected before the communication breakdown continues to shed light on the conditions of interstellar space, and the Voyager probes’ ongoing journey into the cosmos is a testament to human ingenuity and curiosity.

As NASA’s engineers labor to parse the received memory readout and develop potential solutions, Voyager 1’s mission remains a symbol of human achievement. Although the issue remains unresolved, the data sent back before the problem began provides an extensive understanding of interstellar space, and the work to re-establish complete communication is evidence of NASA’s relentless pursuit of knowledge.

Relevant articles:

– NASA Is Still Fighting to Save Its Historic Voyager 1 … , Gizmodo, Mar 7, 2024

– Voyager 1 sends back surprising response after ‘poke’ from NASA , CNN

– NASA finds clue while solving Voyager 1’s communication breakdown case , Space.com

– How was contact restored between NASA and Voyager 2? Here’s all you need to know about the ‘shout’ across interstellar space which retrieved the spacecraft , economictimes.com

• Mission Type Guide

Helldivers 2 has a variety of missions that players can take on across the 9 difficulty levels. Whether you're tackling a peacekeeping operation or helping defend a planet from a concentrated attack, there are plenty of different objectives for you to complete. This guide covers mission types across both the Automaton and Terminid factions, including information on how to finish each one, the time given to complete them, and more.

• List of General Mission

List of Terminid Mission Types in Helldivers 2

List of automaton mission types in helldivers 2, list of general missions.

These are missions that you'll find on both the Terminid and Automaton sides of the Galactic War Map. Because they're not specific to any faction, the objectives and sub-objectives remain the same - the only difference will be the enemies you encounter while completing them.

These missions are specific to the Terminds and can be found on the right side of the Galactic War Map.

These misions are specific to the Automatons and can be found on the left side of the Galactic War Map.

Up Next: Cutting Edge Premium Warbond

Top guide sections.

• Tips and Tricks for Getting Started
• Cutting Edge Premium Warbond
• How to Get a Mech in Helldivers 2

Was this guide helpful?

In this guide.

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2

Where are they now.

Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have reached "interstellar space" and each continue their unique journey deeper into the cosmos. In NASA's Eyes on the Solar System app, you can see the actual spacecraft trajectories of the Voyagers updated every five minutes.

Mission Status

Instrument status.

Voyager 1 Present Position

Voyager 2 present position, voyager's grand tour: 1977 - today.

• Preplanned tours
• Daytrips out of Moscow
• Themed tours
• Customized tours
• St. Petersburg

Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro Tour is included in most guided tours’ itineraries. Opened in 1935, under Stalin’s regime, the metro was not only meant to solve transport problems, but also was hailed as “a people’s palace”. Every station you will see during your Moscow metro tour looks like a palace room. There are bright paintings, mosaics, stained glass, bronze statues… Our Moscow metro tour includes the most impressive stations best architects and designers worked at - Ploshchad Revolutsii, Mayakovskaya, Komsomolskaya, Kievskaya, Novoslobodskaya and some others.

What is the kremlin in russia?

The guide will not only help you navigate the metro, but will also provide you with fascinating background tales for the images you see and a history of each station.

And there some stories to be told during the Moscow metro tour! The deepest station - Park Pobedy - is 84 metres under the ground with the world longest escalator of 140 meters. Parts of the so-called Metro-2, a secret strategic system of underground tunnels, was used for its construction.

During the Second World War the metro itself became a strategic asset: it was turned into the city's biggest bomb-shelter and one of the stations even became a library. 217 children were born here in 1941-1942! The metro is the most effective means of transport in the capital.

There are almost 200 stations 196 at the moment and trains run every 90 seconds! The guide of your Moscow metro tour can explain to you how to buy tickets and find your way if you plan to get around by yourself.

Life on Enceladus? Europe eyes astrobiology mission to Saturn ocean moon

Such a mission, which would launch in the 2040s for arrival in the 2050s, could be the first to search for life in the Saturn system.

Europe could be heading to the Saturn moon Enceladus in search of life, according to a new report from planetary scientists who are masterminding a future large-class mission to the outer solar system.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is exercising considerable forward-thinking with its "Voyager 2050" program, which describes the scientific goals and missions for the middle of this century. Its overarching theme of "moons of the solar system " was chosen in 2021, and now an expert report has recommended that Enceladus should be the primary target.

Enceladus is a 309-mile-wide (498 kilometers) icy moon of Saturn . In 2006, the Cassini mission discovered that giant plumes of water vapor are spewing out from deep fractures in the surface, nicknamed "tiger stripes," located near Enceladus' south pole. The plumes are the result of Saturn's gravity stretching and squeezing Enceladus' innards like putty, injecting energy into the moon 's interior to keep water liquid in a global ocean and periodically squirting some of that water out through the tiger stripes, like squeezing water out of a bottle.

Related: Saturn's moons: Facts about the weird and wonderful satellites of the ringed planet

ESA convened a 12-person panel of planetary scientists from across Europe and chaired by Zita Martins, who is an astrobiologist at Instituto Superior Técnico in Portugal, to asses the science that could be gained from venturing to Enceladus, its fellow Saturn satellite Titan or the Jupiter ocean moon Europa . Meanwhile, engineers at ESA's Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) explored what kind of mission would be most realistic given current and near-future technologies.

"The search for habitable conditions and for signatures of life in the solar system is challenging from a science and technology point of view, but very exciting," said Martins in a press statement .

From both a scientific and technology point of view, Enceladus came out on top, followed by Titan and then Europa.

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Enceladus has all the ingredients necessary for a potentially habitable environment. Liquid water — check. Organic molecules — check. A source of chemical energy to fuel life — check.

The report suggests that a mission to Enceladus (or Titan) be composed of both an orbiter and a lander. They'd be launched separately on Ariane 6 rockets and then rendezvous in Earth orbit before heading for Saturn. Once there, they'd perform several flybys of Saturn's other moons that could harbor oceans, such as Dione , Mimas and Rhea , before closing in on their target of either Enceladus or Titan.

If Enceladus were chosen, the lander would touch down in the south polar region near the tiger stripes and collect samples of the ocean that have snowed back onto the surface from the plumes. Alternatively, if ESA wished to dispense with the lander for budgetary reasons, the orbiter could fly through the plumes and sample material that way. This has been done previously, with the Cassini spacecraft. Although Cassini did not have the instruments capable of detecting life, it did find organic molecules from the ocean within the plumes. 

A lander as part of a Titan mission would focus on touching down in an empty lakebed that seasonally fills with liquid hydrocarbons such as ethane and methane, and sampling the sediments there. However, getting into low-Titan orbit where an orbiter could also sample the moon's upper atmosphere is challenging because of the significant delta-v (change in velocity) needed, which would require a more complex spacecraft with greater fuel reserves, which in turn increases the mass at launch. 

It's also worth pointing out that NASA is already developing a mission to Titan, namely a quadcopter called Dragonfly that's scheduled to launch in 2028 to explore the skies and surface of the big moon. Also, while Titan certainly possesses the organic chemistry that could assemble life's building blocks, the moon's astrobiological potential has recently been questioned in research that suggested that not enough organic material from the surface would reach its underground ocean.

Related: Titan: Facts about Saturn's largest moon

— Finding life on Saturn's moon Enceladus might be easier than we thought

— Saturn's moon Enceladus has all the ingredients for life in its icy oceans. But is life there?

— This snake robot could hunt alien life on icy moons like Saturn's Enceladus  

Europa Clipper that will blast off in October 2024, will already maximize the science that can be conducted from close flybys of Europa. To significantly further the science that can be done at Europa would require a lander, but estimates place the lifetime of any lander on the irradiated surface of Europa at just 10 days using current radiation shielding technology. Both ESA's scientific and CDF panels concluded that such a mission is not feasible at the current time .

If ESA can pull off an Enceladus mission, it would be a huge, potentially history-making achievement, depending upon what it finds. 

"An investigation into signs of past or present life around Saturn has never been achieved before," said Carole Mundell, who is the director of science at ESA. "It would guarantee ESA leadership in planetary science for decades to come."

The full report can be found on the European Space Agency's website. 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Keith Cooper is a freelance science journalist and editor in the United Kingdom, and has a degree in physics and astrophysics from the University of Manchester. He's the author of "The Contact Paradox: Challenging Our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence" (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2020) and has written articles on astronomy, space, physics and astrobiology for a multitude of magazines and websites.

Western US residents report the most UFO sightings — what are they actually seeing?

The Europa Clipper may only need 1 ice grain to detect life on Jupiter's ocean moon

SpaceX moves Super Heavy booster to pad ahead of 4th Starship flight (photos)

• Dr.Zilman About time! Stop wasting millions of dollars on that dead dusty desert of Mars. Reply

Dr.Zilman said: About time! Stop wasting millions of dollars on that dead dusty desert of Mars.

• View All 2 Comments

Most Popular

By Scott Snowden April 04, 2024

By Rebecca Sohn April 04, 2024

By Robert Lea April 04, 2024

By Daisy Dobrijevic April 04, 2024

By Sharmila Kuthunur April 04, 2024

By Monisha Ravisetti April 04, 2024

By Rahul Rao April 03, 2024

By Mike Wall April 03, 2024

By Jeff Spry April 03, 2024

By Robert Lea April 03, 2024

• 2 Largest 3D map of our universe could hint that dark energy evolves with time
• 3 China putting finishing touches on seaside spaceport for commercial launches (video)
• 4 Blue Origin will launch Ed Dwight, the 1st-ever Black astronaut candidate, to space on next New Shepard rocket flight
• 5 NASA will launch rockets into the total solar eclipse on April 8

Follow Polygon online:

• Follow Polygon on Facebook
• Follow Polygon on Youtube
• Follow Polygon on Instagram

Site search

• What to Watch
• What to Play
• PlayStation
• All Entertainment
• Dragon’s Dogma 2
• FF7 Rebirth
• Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Buyer’s Guides
• Galaxy Brains
• All Podcasts

Filed under:

Destiny 2 is getting its two best missions back before The Final Shape

The Whisper and Zero Hour are finally coming back

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Reddit
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: Destiny 2 is getting its two best missions back before The Final Shape

Destiny 2 ’s upcoming free update, Into the Light , is truly looking to be a greatest hits collection for the MMO ahead of The Final Shape expansion this June. The variety of beloved and returning weapons revealed on March 26 made that obvious, but it seems Bungie is really pulling out all the stops with some upcoming mission reprisals. During a livestream on Tuesday , Bungie revealed the return of The Whisper and Zero Hour missions to Destiny 2 .

These two Exotic missions are widely considered to be some of the best in the series history, and both were removed from Destiny 2 back in 2020, with the Beyond Light expansion. With Into the Light, both missions will be accessible in the game once again, with Bungie devs promising they’ve twisted some nobs and added new secrets to keep each fresh for players.

Both of these missions were secrets back in their day, requiring a secretive questline or random public event to gain access. They also each heralded the return of a beloved Exotic weapon from the original Destiny — Black Hammer (which became Whisper of the Worm) from The Whisper, and Outbreak Prime (which became Outbreak Perfected) in Zero Hour.

Based on some gameplay during the livestream, both missions feature the same mix of platforming, combat, and a timer. However, Bungie devs have made some adjustments. The missions themselves will have more enemies to keep up with the increase in power Guardians have seen in recent years, and the timers will be much less restrictive for the mission’s normal difficulty modes. However, for players still looking to challenge themselves, they can dive into higher difficulty versions for stronger enemies and a much tighter timer.

As for the rewards, both Whisper of the Worm and Outbreak Perfected will become craftable weapons in the update. By completing the mission, Guardians can earn the blueprint, which will allow them to start customizing their Exotics. They can then return to the mission week after week to unlock new perk options and improve the power of their creations.

As for the special ships that came with these missions, neither will be returning via the reprisal — both in an effort to maintain the achievement of old school players and make way for new cosmetics. The revamped Whisper and Zero Hour will have completely new cosmetic ships to earn, with the Zero Hour ship getting a significant overhaul.

As for the rollout of these missions, Bungie will stagger them a bit. The Whisper will appear in-game alongside Into the Light on April 9. Zero Hour and the crafted version of Outbreak Perfected, however, won’t make it into the game until May — just a month ahead of Destiny 2: The Final Shape .

In the stream, Bungie also previewed three new PvP maps coming to the game alongside Into the Light. The maps, the reprised missions, the horde-like Onslaught mode, and the bevy of fan-favorite weapons will all be free for players — regardless of if they own any expansions or seasons. Finally, Bungie left players with a tease, promising new details on The Final Shape expansion via a livestream the morning of April 9, just before Into the Light’s launch.

The next level of puzzles.

Take a break from your day by playing a puzzle or two! We’ve got SpellTower, Typeshift, crosswords, and more.

Sign up for the newsletter Patch Notes

A weekly roundup of the best things from Polygon

Just one more thing!

Please check your email to find a confirmation email, and follow the steps to confirm your humanity.

Oops. Something went wrong. Please enter a valid email and try again.

Loading comments...

How to finish the Unmoored World endgame in Dragon’s Dogma 2

Who is subjecting us to these things, and why do they hate popcorn?

How to get high quality Pal oil in Palworld

How to do Bellanoir raids in Palworld

How to get and farm ore in Palworld

All Palworld Pals, types, and skills in the Paldeck