Chapter 15, Annex Q INTERSTELLAR MISSION

“Voyager: The Intersteller Mission”, by NASA, 2004, Planetary Voyage. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/science/heliocentric.html

Figure Q-1  Planetary Voyage

“Voyager: The Intersteller Mission”, by NASA, 2004, Voyager Spacecraft. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/instruments.html

Figure Q-2  Voyager Configuration

“Voyager: The Intersteller Mission”, by NASA, 2007, Overview. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/mission.html

Figure Q-3  Voyager Interstellar Mission

“Voyager: The Intersteller Mission”, by NASA, 2004, Did You Know: Interesting Facts About the Voyager Mission. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/didyouknow.html

Figure Q-4  Sol’s Heliopause

For current distances of the Voyagers, cadets can check mission weekly reports at NASA website http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/weekly-reports/index.htm.

The distance from earth to the sun (approximately 149 598 000 km – this dimension is not perfectly stable) is said to be one astronomical unit (AU). Such a huge unit of measure is useful when dealing with astronomical dimensions. The vertical dimension shown in Figure 15Q-4 is therefore approximately 5 AU. The horizontal dimension, however, includes all the space between earth’s sun, Sol, and Alpha Centauri – Sol’s closest neighbour – 277 600 AU. To cover this vast space, the horizontal scale was altered so that it increases as the viewer moves from left to right. The scale changes are marked on the central horizontal line, as 10¹,10²,10³ 10⁴,10⁵ and 10⁶. This means that the distance between each pair of marks on the horizontal line is ten times larger than the distance between the preceding pairs of marks. That is, Saturn’s orbit is only 10 AU from the sun, 10³ is one thousand AU from the sun, while 10⁶ is one million AU from the sun – well past Alpha Centauri. This method (logarithmic representation) is necessary for representing astronomical distances.

“Voyager: The Intersteller Mission”, by NASA, 2003, The Golden Record. Retrieved April 8, 2008, from http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec1.html

Figure Q-5  The Golden Record