2023-08-17 20:46:53
Saying that human-designed devices are making interstellar travel may seem like a bit of an exaggeration, but it is true. Two space probes, called Voyager 1 and 2, which were built practically at the dawn of the space age, with technology that is now ridiculous compared to that contained in any mobile phone, left Earth in 1977 and not only achieved the feat not to fly over and expand our knowledge of the largest and most distant planets in the Solar System, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, but rather continued their journey beyond the heliopause, that border where the wind from the Sun fades and gives way to the wind of other stars. Thus, the Voyagers are currently two interstellar travelers that still communicate with Earth. How did that odyssey come about? How were they designed and built, what equipment did they carry, and what difficulties did they have to overcome along the way? These and many other questions are answered today by our guest in Speaking with Scientists, Pedro León, author of the book entitled: “Interstellar Travel: History of the Voyager probes.”
The book that we are discussing today with its author, Pedro León, in this chapter of Hablando con Científicos, is truly a story of daring ideas, seemingly unattainable dreams, and technological challenges, all enlivened by the human stories that made possible a space odyssey that, 45 years after its release, it’s still going strong.
You cannot understand the history of the Voyager probes without going back to the early 1960s, when very limited missions to the closest celestial bodies, the Moon, Mars, and Venus, had barely been launched. As often happens at times when humanity faces new challenges, people who make essential advances enter the scene and are then forgotten. Pedro León talks in his book about some scholarship students, hired by JPL, who contributed revolutionary ideas to the calculation of the trajectories of interplanetary spacecraft. The ideas of Michael Minovitch or Gary Flandro made it possible to send ships beyond Mars using the impulse provided by the gravity of the planets they found in their path. This concept of gravity assist and the discovery that in the late 1970s a unique planetary alignment would take place that occurs every 175 years allowed Voyagers to take off, more than 15 years later, towards the largest and most distant planets in the Solar System.
Pedro León provides in his book an impressive amount of information about the previous projects, the difficulties of development and financing, the instruments that were developed, the launching rockets and an enormous number of events and vicissitudes that give the Voyager story a meaning. of an odyssey that, however, was on the verge of shipwrecking on multiple occasions.
Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, followed by Voyager 1 on September 5 of the same year. Despite being launched later, Voyager 1 took a more direct trajectory, getting it to certain destinations sooner. Thus began the gravitational “tour” of the giant planets.
Voyager 1 investigated Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn and its moon Titan in 1980. After its encounter with Saturn, and thanks to the gravitational assistance of this planet, it was thrown out of the ecliptic plane and into interstellar space.
Voyager 2 is the only probe to have visited all four giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. During its flybys, it returned detailed images and data of these worlds and their moons. Jupiter was investigated in 1979, revealing details of its storms and moons. Saturn was reached in 1981, where, in addition to the planet, its rings and some of its moons were observed. Uranus, a lesser-known world, was flown by in 1986, and finally Neptune in 1989, where strong winds and geysers were discovered on its moon Triton.
With their instruments still operational after decades, the Voyager probes have traveled beyond the edge of the solar system, crossing a region called the heliopause, and deep into interstellar space.
Over the years, Voyager missions have greatly expanded our understanding of the solar system and continue to return information from space, a testament to the human capacity for exploration and discovery.
We invite you to listen to Pedro León, President of the Astroinnova Association, author of and author of the book “Interstellar Travel: History of the Voyager probes”:
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