Voyager 1 Data Center
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman-Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
Aerospace Engineering |
| Special Topic(s): |
History of Technology |
| Learning Resource Type: |
Reference - Data Set |
| Media Type: |
Unknown |
| Author(s): |
Ed Grayzeck |
| Description: | Data sets from NASA's Voyager 1 interplanetary spacecraft. "Voyager 1 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. After its encounter with Saturn, Voyager 1 remained relatively quiescent, continuing to make in situ observations of the interplanetary environment and UV observations of stars. After nearly nine years of dormancy, Voyager 1's cameras were once again turned on to take a series of pictures. On 14 Feb. 1990, Voyager 1 looked back from whence it came and took the first "family portrait" of the solar system, a mosaic of 60 frames of the Sun and six of the planets (Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) as seen from "outside" the solar system. After this final look back, the cameras on Voyager 1 were once again turned off. Rechristened the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM) by NASA in 1989 (after Voyager 2's Neptune encounter), Voyager 1 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 1 is speeding away from the Sun at a velocity of about 3.50 AU/year toward a point in the sky of RA= 262 degrees, Dec=+12 degrees (35.55 degrees ecliptic latitude, 260.78 degrees ecliptic longitude). Late on 17 February 1998, Voyager 1 became the most distant man-made object from the Sun, surpassing the distance of Pioneer 10." |
| Rating: |
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| Related Resources | |
| Keywords: | Voyager 1 space exploration solar system |
| Referenced By: |
09-05-1977 Voyager 1 is launched |
| Usage Tip | |
| Use of Resource: |
Data for analysis. |
| Difficulty: |
Easy |
| Interactivity Level: |
Low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | February 2008 |
| Platform/Format: |
WWW |
| Cost: |
Free |
| Download URL: | http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1977-084A |
| Metadata: |
IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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