Exploration of the Solar System Part 3

Just as in our previous two blogs, we will continue to focus on the exploration of the Solar System. More specifically, we'll be covering the missions of Cassini, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2. There are some important terms to understand, though, before reading the blog. A flyby is a when a spacecraft flies by a celestial body while being "close enough to obtain scientific data" (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Furthermore, the heliosphere is "a region of space influenced by the Sun or solar wind" (Merriam-Webster, n.d.).

Cassini

On October 15, 1997, Cassini launched from Cape Canaveral, ready to achieve many firsts: The “first to orbit Saturn. [The] first [to] land[...] in the outer solar system. [The] first to sample an extraterrestrial ocean” (NASA, 2021). While on its journey to its final destination, Saturn, Cassini made many flybys by Venus, Earth, the Moon, through the Asteroid Belt, and finally Jupiter. Cassini observed two storms merging into one and discovered two new moons of Saturn, and made its first flyby of one of Saturn’s moons, Phoebe, while arriving at Saturn. Since its launch from Earth, Cassini has also carried the Huygens Probe, a European Space Agency probe, through its mission until December 23, 2004, at which the probe detached and made its descent into Saturn’s moon, Titan. One January 14, 2005, the probe successfully landed on Titan and captured images of Titan, revealing its “Earth-like meteorology and geology” (NASA, 2021). Cassini continued its mission, providing the scientific community with detailed data about Saturn’s moons, Saturn’s rings, as well as Saturn itself. Some of these discoveries included discovering “evidence of liquid water reservoirs [...] in the form of geysers” on Enceladus and lakes on Titan (which ranged from “.6 miles wide [...][to] some nearly 20 miles wide”. In fact, its amazing discoveries led to its mission being extended until 2017. But unfortunately, on September 15, 2017, Cassini made “its final plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere [at which] the spacecraft [was][...] crushed and vaporized” due to Saturn’s pressure and temperature (NASA 2021).

Voyager 1 and 2

The Voyager missions “provide[...] humanity with observations of [...] uncharted territory”, as well as “help[...] scientists understand the [...] nature of energy and radiation in space” (NASA 2021). Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977, while Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977. Although Voyager 1 was launched after Voyager 2, it had a faster route which led it to exiting the asteroid belt earlier than Voyager 2, causing it to overtake it. Both, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, continue to hold the record of “flying longer than any other spacecraft in history” (NASA 2021).

More specifically, Voyager 1’s original objectives were to flyby Jupiter and Saturn. Some of Voyager 1’s firsts include “cross[ing] the heliosphere” and becoming the “first human-made object to venture into interstellar space (NASA 2021). An interesting fact about Voyager 1 is that it carried the Golden Record, “a message from humanity to the cosmos that includes greetings in 55 languages, pictures of people, places on Earth, and music (NASA 2021). One of the most famous pictures take, the Pale Blue dot image, was taken on February 14, 1990 by Voyager 1 by pointing its cameras backwards to face Earth. This image was one of the last 67,000 images that were taken by the spacecraft before the cameras “were turned off to save power and memory” (NASA 2021).

Just like Voyager 1, Voyager 2 was designed to “find and study the edge of our Solar System” (NASA 2021). Some of Voyager 2’s firsts include becoming “the only spacecraft to study all four of the Solar System’s giant planets at close range”, and “the first human-made object to fly past Uranus [and Neptune]” (NASA 2021).

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Thank you for taking the time to reach the end of the blog! We hope you learned something new! Make sure to like, comment, and share! As always, keep gazing skywards!

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Bibliography

Greicius, T. (2015, January 21). Cassini overview. NASA. Retrieved June 26, 2022, from

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/whycassini/index.html

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Flyby definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved June 23, 2022, from

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flyby

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Heliosphere definition & meaning. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved June 26, 2022, from

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heliosphere

NASA. (2021, February 4). In depth. NASA. Retrieved June 23, 2022, from

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/voyager-1/in-depth/

NASA. (2021, February 4). In depth. NASA. Retrieved June 23, 2022, from

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/voyager-2/in-depth/

NASA. (2021, June 9). Overview. NASA. Retrieved June 23, 2022, from

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/cassini/overview/