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3 A Brief History of Space Flight
sent two groups of robotic probes to all the giant planets of the outer solar system.
It called for four spacecrafts, two of which would visit the Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto,
while the other two would visit the Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. By 1971, the
enormous cost of the project, around 1 billion dollars, led to its budget cut and
cancelled.
After developing the Mariner-10, originally the Mariner-11 and Mariner-12 were
designed and built by the JPL to explore two planets of the outer solar system, the
Jupiter and Saturn. It was called the Mariner Jupiter-Saturn project in early 1972, with
an estimated cost of 360 million dollars, and with the intention that the twin probes
would last long enough to complete the original Grand Tour of the four giant planets,
but be advertised as mission to only the Jupiter and Saturn to reduce estimated total
project costs. As the project progressed, the name was later changed to Voyager
Program because the probe designs began to differ greatly from previous Mariner
missions. The Voyager Program was composed of twin probes, the Voyager-1 and
Voyager-2, corresponding to the Mariner-11 and Mariner-12.
The design idea of the Mariner probe series was widely used in later space exploration and space flight missions. Besides the Voyager-1 and Voager-2, the Mariner-9
was expanded into the Viking-1 and Viking-2 probes to explore the Mars. Moreover,
on the basis of the Mariner probes, the Magellan probe was designed to explore the
Venus, and the Galileo probe was designed to explore the Jupiter. The second generation of Mariner probe was eventually evolved into the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft
orbiting the Saturn. The New Horizons probe, launched in 2006 to explore the Pluto,
mainly came from the simplified design of the Pioneer-10 and Pioneer-11, but some
designs also came from the Mariner probe series, such as the three-axis stabilizer
and the dish-shaped TT&C antenna.
3.6.4.2 Voyager-1 and Voyager-2
Both the Voyager-1 and Voyager-2 were sister probes concurrently developed by
the NASA, to explore the outer planets of the solar system and achieve interstellar
space flight. With the gravity assist from the giant planets, the probes could change
their flight trajectory to explore multiple planets like the Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune and Pluto, and their moons. The Voyager inherited the structural design
from the Mariner probe, including the polygon base and the high-gain dish-shaped
TT&C antenna with a diameter of 3.7 m. and had 721.9-kg lift-off weight and 420W power consumption. The Voyager carried eleven scientific instruments onboard,
including the imaging science system, radio science system, infrared interferometer spectrometer, ultraviolet spectrometer, tri-axial fluxgate magnetometer, plasma
spectrometer, low energy charged particle instrument, cosmic ray system, planetary
radio astronomy investigation, photopolarimeter system, and plasma wave system.
In 1977, originally it was intended to first launch the Voyager-1 and then
the Voyager-2. However, because a malfunction was checked temporarily before
launching, the Voyager-1 was delayed to be launched on September 5, while the
Voyager-2 was launched on August 20 on the original schedule. For all that, the
3 A Brief History of Space Flight
sent two groups of robotic probes to all the giant planets of the outer solar system.
It called for four spacecrafts, two of which would visit the Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto,
while the other two would visit the Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. By 1971, the
enormous cost of the project, around 1 billion dollars, led to its budget cut and
cancelled.
After developing the Mariner-10, originally the Mariner-11 and Mariner-12 were
designed and built by the JPL to explore two planets of the outer solar system, the
Jupiter and Saturn. It was called the Mariner Jupiter-Saturn project in early 1972, with
an estimated cost of 360 million dollars, and with the intention that the twin probes
would last long enough to complete the original Grand Tour of the four giant planets,
but be advertised as mission to only the Jupiter and Saturn to reduce estimated total
project costs. As the project progressed, the name was later changed to Voyager
Program because the probe designs began to differ greatly from previous Mariner
missions. The Voyager Program was composed of twin probes, the Voyager-1 and
Voyager-2, corresponding to the Mariner-11 and Mariner-12.
The design idea of the Mariner probe series was widely used in later space exploration and space flight missions. Besides the Voyager-1 and Voager-2, the Mariner-9
was expanded into the Viking-1 and Viking-2 probes to explore the Mars. Moreover,
on the basis of the Mariner probes, the Magellan probe was designed to explore the
Venus, and the Galileo probe was designed to explore the Jupiter. The second generation of Mariner probe was eventually evolved into the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft
orbiting the Saturn. The New Horizons probe, launched in 2006 to explore the Pluto,
mainly came from the simplified design of the Pioneer-10 and Pioneer-11, but some
designs also came from the Mariner probe series, such as the three-axis stabilizer
and the dish-shaped TT&C antenna.
3.6.4.2 Voyager-1 and Voyager-2
Both the Voyager-1 and Voyager-2 were sister probes concurrently developed by
the NASA, to explore the outer planets of the solar system and achieve interstellar
space flight. With the gravity assist from the giant planets, the probes could change
their flight trajectory to explore multiple planets like the Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus,
Neptune and Pluto, and their moons. The Voyager inherited the structural design
from the Mariner probe, including the polygon base and the high-gain dish-shaped
TT&C antenna with a diameter of 3.7 m. and had 721.9-kg lift-off weight and 420W power consumption. The Voyager carried eleven scientific instruments onboard,
including the imaging science system, radio science system, infrared interferometer spectrometer, ultraviolet spectrometer, tri-axial fluxgate magnetometer, plasma
spectrometer, low energy charged particle instrument, cosmic ray system, planetary
radio astronomy investigation, photopolarimeter system, and plasma wave system.
In 1977, originally it was intended to first launch the Voyager-1 and then
the Voyager-2. However, because a malfunction was checked temporarily before
launching, the Voyager-1 was delayed to be launched on September 5, while the
Voyager-2 was launched on August 20 on the original schedule. For all that, the