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Voyager Mission Profile Voyager Mission Profile Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have crossed the termi- The Voyager Spacecraft The twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft continue ex- nation shock — where the solar wind is slowed Imaging Narrow Angle ploring where nothing from Earth has flown before. Ultraviolet Spectrometer abruptly due to the interaction with interstellar gas. Imaging Wide Angle Launched in 1977, they each are now more than Infrared Spectrometer and Voyager 1 crossed the shock in December 2004 and Radiometer three times farther away from Earth and the Sun Plasma Voyager 2 crossed in August 2007. Both spacecraft Photopolarimeter than is Pluto. The Voyagers are involved in a mis- Cosmic Ray are sending information about their surroundings sion to characterize the far outer heliosphere, the Low-Energy Charged through NASA’s Deep Space Network. Particle Detector distant solar wind, and the interaction between the two. This phase of the mission has allowed us to High-Gain Antenna The Voyager spacecraft are on a unique exploratory (3.7-meter or Bus Housing Electronics explore the most distant reaches of our heliosphere Optical mission. The two spacecraft are exploring regions 12-foot diameter) and allowed us to take the first tentative steps in the Calibration of space never before encountered, building on Target and transition regions between that region dominated by the legacy of one of NASA’s most successful and Radiator the Sun and interstellar space. productive missions. The Voyager Interstellar Mis- sion (VIM) is critical for meeting several science objectives of NASA’s Heliophysics System Observa- High-Field Magnetometer (2) Planetary Radio tory. The Voyagers are the only components of the Astronomy and Plasma Wave observatory that are, for now and in the foresee- Low-Field Antenna (2) able future, making measurements in the farthest Magnetometer (2) region of the heliosphere. As such, the mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (3) Heliosheath Heliosphere Voyager 1 addresses directly a number of “Challenges.” For Termination Bow Shock Shock example, “Understanding the global structure of the space carved out of the interstellar medium by the Voyager 2 Sun, the distribution of magnetic fields and mat- ter throughout the solar system and the interaction Heliopause of the solar atmosphere with the local interstellar medium”and “Understanding the basic physics in processes observed in solar and space plasmas.” 1 The People Behind the Mission When asked what scientific discoveries surprised him who immigrated to Israel and then to Brazil, caus- the most about the Voyagers, Dr. Cummings replied, ing her English to be very rudimentary; it was “There have been, and continue to be, many surprises, mostly learned from books. but the first big surprise for me was Jupiter’s moon Io. It was all black and orange and looked like a poorly Dr. Opher came to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory made pizza. That astounded me.” in 2001 to begin another postdoctoral position and became involved with the Voyager mission. When Dr. Cummings graduated from Rice University in asked about her academic life, she commented, “I 1966 with a B.A. in physics. He attended Churchill wandered from plasma effects in the early universe College, Cambridge, England, as a United States Win- to the edge of the solar system. I like to think my ston Churchill Foundation Fellow and received his emigrant experience from different countries and Ph.D. from Caltech. In addition to his scientific pur- academic fields gives me a different outlook in suits, Dr. Cummings is an avid tennis player and bird- science.” watcher. He has led a weekly bird walk on the Caltech Since 1994, Dr. Alan C. Cummings has been a campus since 1986. Dr. Opher was most intrigued by two phenomena: Co-Investigator on the Voyager Cosmic Ray Subsys- how few women worked in space science when she tem (CRS) experiment. The CRS instrument mea- entered the field and how large the age gap was sures the energy spectrum of electrons and cosmic between newcomers like herself and the established ray nuclei and uses three independent systems — a names in the field. She finds that one of the roman- high-energy telescope system (HET), a low-energy tic aspects of the Voyager Science Team meetings telescope system (LET), and an electron telescope is seeing these two distinct generations in a room (TET). Dr. Cummings participated in the design of poring through the newest data from the spacecraft the LETs and had the parts built in South Pasadena. now at an especially exciting region — the edge of He was responsible for testing all the detectors that our solar system. went into the LETs and assembled and tested each one of the eight telescopes (four on each Voyager). Dr. Opher is also an Associate Professor in the De- He was the last person under the shroud checking partment of Physics and Astronomy at George Ma- the aluminum windows covering the apertures once son University in Fairfax, Virginia, and moves to the spacecraft was on the rocket. the Astronomy Department of Boston University in January 2011. Dr. Cummings is a Senior Scientist and Member of the Professional Staff at the California Institute of Technology, and has been analyzing Voyager After completing her Ph.D. at the University of data since the twin spacecraft launched in 1977. Sao Paulo in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Dr. Merav Opher came to the U.S. in 1999 for a postdoctoral posi- tion at the plasma group in the physics department at UCLA. Dr. Opher’s parents are New Yorkers 2 A Message to the Universe Standards National Science Education Standards–National Re- Number Operations — Compute fluently and make Flying aboard Voyagers 1 and 2 are identical “golden” search Council Addressed by Voyager Activities reasonable estimates. phonograph records, carrying the story of Earth far into deep space. The 12-inch gold-plated copper discs Mathematical Standards Science Standards contain greetings in 54 different languages, samples Source: Principles and Standards for School Mathemat- Source: National Science Education Standards, Nation- of music from different cultures and eras, natural and ics, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Res- al Research Council, Washington, D.C. (1999) human-made sounds from Earth, and 117 pictures ton, VA (2000) explaining ourselves and the planet Earth. They also Activity — Voyager 1 and 2: Where Are You? contain electronic information that an advanced tech- Activity — Voyager 1 and 2: Where Are You? nological civilization could convert into diagrams and Grades 6–8 Grades 6–8 photographs. The cover of each gold-plated aluminum Earth and Space Science jacket, designed to protect the record from microme- Measurement — Understand measurable attributes • The Earth is the third planet from the Sun in a sys- teorite bombardment, also serves a double purpose of objects and the units, systems, and processes of tem that includes the Moon, Sun, and seven other in providing the finder a key to play the record. The measurement. planets and their moons. explanatory diagram appears on both the outer and in- ner surfaces of the cover, as the outer diagram will be Number Operations — Understand meanings of op- • Most objects in the solar system are in regular and eroded in time. Some of the scenes and sounds from erations and how they relate to one another. predictable motion. the Voyager Golden Record can be viewed and heard at the Voyager project website at http://voyager.jpl.nasa. Communication — Communicate their mathematical • Gravity is the force that keeps planets in orbit around gov. Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter in March 1979 and thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and the Sun and governs the rest of the motion in the solar Saturn in November 1980, before heading out of our others. system. solar system. Voyager 2 surveyed Jupiter in July 1979, Saturn in August 1981, Uranus in January 1986, and Geometry — Specify locations and describe spatial Activity — Where Is Voyager Going? Neptune in August 1989. relationships using coordinate geometry and other rep- Grades 6–8 resentational methods. Science and Technology Activity — Where Is Voyager Going? • Technology is essential to science, because it provides Grades 6–8 instruments and techniques that enable observations of Representation — Use representations to model and objects and phenomena that are otherwise unobserv- interpret physical and mathematical phenomena. able due to factors such as distance. Connections — Recognize and apply mathematics in • Technology provides tools for investigations, inquiry, contexts outside of mathematics. and analysis. Geometry — Use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric modeling to solve problems. 3 Voyager 1 and 2: Where Are You? Grades 5-8 — Teacher’s Directions Learning Objectives: Students will appreciate the Part B: Inside Activity: Making a Scale Model of Part C: Back to the Field great distances between the planets and their com- Objects in the Solar System In placing the cards on the field, the planets drawn on parable sizes, view the solar system in three dimen- Give the students a copy of the Planetary Data Table the cards need to be placed the same distance off the sions in a useful scale, and visualize the paths of the giving distance and diameter information. Tell them ground (at the start). Cards will be glued to a Popsicle Voyager spacecraft and their present distances and the solar system needs to be fitted to the field you stick. Mercury can be placed about a centimeter above positions. chose to construct the model and that they need to the others (because it is 7 degrees above the plane of the You Will Need: An open area with 120 meters of make a model of their planet the same scale. They will other planets). Pluto can be placed about 1 meter above space (like a football or soccer field), meter sticks use a scaling factor for this.
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