PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
PHOTO CAPTION
P-24653
10/18/83
Twin Voyager spacecraft, depicted here in a full-scale model, are
now traveling through the outer solar system. Voyager 1,
launched Sept. 5, 1977, has completed its mission to Jupiter and
Saturn and is now outbound from the solar system, heading in the
general direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. Voyager 2
followed its sister craft to Jupiter and Saturn and is on its way
to the next planet, Uranus, for an encounter in January 1986. If
all goes well, Voyager 2 will reach Neptune in late summer 1989 -
- some 12 years after its Aug. 20, 1977, launch. Its current
trajectory will take Voyager 2 in the direction of the
constellation Canis Major. In this view, the science boom,
containing cameras and other instruments requiring
maneuverability, is seen at right. The long boom at left carries
two magnetic-field detectors and stretches 43 feet out from the
spacecraft. The dominant feature at center, the 12-foot-diameter
high-gain antenna, provides communication between the spacecraft
and controllers on Earth. Just below is a shiny gold disk, a
record called "Sounds of Earth," bearing messages and pictures
from our planet. The Voyagers are managed for NASA by the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.
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