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Yesterday saw the 41st anniversary of the launch of Voyager 1 from the Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 41 – and SpaceX launched its next Falcon 9 on the nearby Launch Complex 40 pad.
Launched just after his twin, Voyager 2, the spacecraft was sent to NASA's Solar System Grand Tour, surpassing Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980 before looking at the murky atmosphere of one of Saturn's moons. Titan.
The NASA boffins were eager to take a closer look at Titan, as the sightings suggested an interesting atmosphere surrounding the body. Unfortunately for the probe, thick clouds prevented many surface observations, but enough data was returned to allow scientists to determine the composition of the atmosphere and to assume that liquid hydrocarbon lakes might exist in the atmosphere. area.
The NASA-ESA Cassini-Huygens joint mission would continue to take a closer look at Titan, thanks in part to data from the experienced spacecraft.
After meeting with Titan, the probe's trajectory removed it from the solar system (his brother, Voyager 2, continued meeting with Uranus and Neptune) and NASA gradually switched off its instruments to preserve its energy, with the famous picture Pale Blue Dot. being one of the last pictures taken by the starship cameras in 1990.
Voyager 1 is now the furthest object from man-made space and is coming out of the solar system at a rate of about 3.6 UA * per year. The spacecraft is currently 21.4 billion kilometers from the Earth and the boffins believe that it penetrates well into the interstellar space. Partly as a result of the development of the decades-long propulsion units in 2017 to maintain the antenna of the probe aligned with the ground, NASA estimates that it will be possible to obtain enough power from the thermoelectric generator to conserve at least one of a range of scientific instruments operating until 2025. Voyager 1 will eventually come out of NASA's Deep Space network distribution in 2036, but will likely remain silent from anywhere in the world. here there.
SpaceX launches another Falcon 9
While the Voyager team was celebrating, SpaceX launched a new Block 5 Falcon 9 before the scheduled launch on September 8th. The infamous company (at least compared to the torrent of information unloaded by NASA during the shuttle era) tweeted a short message to indicate that things went well to allow Musk rockets to launch the Telstar 18. satellite on Saturday 8
Falcon 9's static fire test is complete – launching Sept. 8 Telstar 18 VANTAGE Pad 40 in Florida.
– SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 5, 2018
The launch, which has suffered a number of delays, will see the repetition of the SpaceX landing attempt. This time, the team hopes the rocket will land aboard SpaceX's spacecraft, which sailed for the launch.
Telstar 18 will be launched in an elliptical transfer orbit from where it will move to its geostationary roost, providing C-band and Ku-band services in the Asia-Pacific region. Telstar expects the satellite to provide 15 years of service. ®
An astronomical unit is the average distance from Earth to the Sun – about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles).
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