3.6 Flying Out of the Solar System
189
(3) On April 25, 1979, the Voyager-2 flew by the Jupiter for exploration. On July
9, it came within 570,000 km of the Jupiter’s cloud tops.
(4) On June 5, 1981, the Voyager-2 flew by the Saturn for exploration. The closest
approach to the Saturn occurred on August 26, and the temperature and density
of its atmosphere was measured.
(5) On November 4, 1985, the Voyager-2 flew by the Uranus for exploration.
(6) On January 24, 1986, the Voyager-2 came within 81,500 km of the Uranus’
cloud tops, investigating its rings, atmosphere and moons in detail.
(7) On June 5, 1989, the Voyager-2 flew by the Neptune for exploration. On
August 25, the Voyager-2 reached the closest approach to the Neptune, and
performed a close flyby of its larger moon Triton, so as to gather as much
information on the Neptune and its Triton as possible, regardless of the spacecraft’s departure angle from this planet. On October 2, it began to carry out
the interstellar exploration mission.
(8) On August 20, 1997, the Voyager-2 had continuously flown and normally
operated for 20 years.
(9) On November 3, 1998, the Voyager-2 terminated the scan platform and
ultraviolet observations.
(10) On November 29, 2006, the onboard computer was unable to correctly decode
the telemetry command from the Earth, with a random error. As a result, the
electrical heaters of the spacecraft’s magnetometer were turned on by mistake.
The heaters remained turned on until December 4, and during the time, there
was a resulting high temperature above 130 °C, causing the damage of the
onboard magnetometer.
(11) On August 30, 2007, the Voyager-2 passed through the termination shock
and then entered into the heliosheath. On September 6, the data tape recorder
onboard of the Voyager-2 stopped working.
(12) On February 22, 2008, the Voyager-2 terminated the radio astronomy
experiment operations.
(13) On April 22, 2010, the Voyager-2 encountered scientific data format problems.
On May 23, it resumed sending science data from deep space after the flipped
bit of the onboard computer was fixed.
(14) On November 7, 2011, the Voyager-2 switched to the backup boosters to
conserve power.
(15) On July 25, 2012, the Voyager-2 was traveling at a velocity of 15.4 km/s relative to the Sun, and arrived at 99.13 AU from the Sun, at −55.29° declination
and 19.888-h right ascension, and also at −34.0° ecliptic latitude, placing it
in the constellation of Telescopium as observed from the Earth.
(16) On November 7, 2012, the Voyager-2 arrived at a position of 100 AU away
from the Sun, becoming the third man-made vehicle to reach this distance. At
this time, the Voyager-1 was 122 AU away from the Sun, and it was predicted
that the Pioneer-10 and Pioneer-11 were respectively at the positions of 107
AU and 83 AU. While the twin Pioneers have ceased communications, both of
the Voyager spacecrafts were well performing and still communicating with
the Earth.
189
(3) On April 25, 1979, the Voyager-2 flew by the Jupiter for exploration. On July
9, it came within 570,000 km of the Jupiter’s cloud tops.
(4) On June 5, 1981, the Voyager-2 flew by the Saturn for exploration. The closest
approach to the Saturn occurred on August 26, and the temperature and density
of its atmosphere was measured.
(5) On November 4, 1985, the Voyager-2 flew by the Uranus for exploration.
(6) On January 24, 1986, the Voyager-2 came within 81,500 km of the Uranus’
cloud tops, investigating its rings, atmosphere and moons in detail.
(7) On June 5, 1989, the Voyager-2 flew by the Neptune for exploration. On
August 25, the Voyager-2 reached the closest approach to the Neptune, and
performed a close flyby of its larger moon Triton, so as to gather as much
information on the Neptune and its Triton as possible, regardless of the spacecraft’s departure angle from this planet. On October 2, it began to carry out
the interstellar exploration mission.
(8) On August 20, 1997, the Voyager-2 had continuously flown and normally
operated for 20 years.
(9) On November 3, 1998, the Voyager-2 terminated the scan platform and
ultraviolet observations.
(10) On November 29, 2006, the onboard computer was unable to correctly decode
the telemetry command from the Earth, with a random error. As a result, the
electrical heaters of the spacecraft’s magnetometer were turned on by mistake.
The heaters remained turned on until December 4, and during the time, there
was a resulting high temperature above 130 °C, causing the damage of the
onboard magnetometer.
(11) On August 30, 2007, the Voyager-2 passed through the termination shock
and then entered into the heliosheath. On September 6, the data tape recorder
onboard of the Voyager-2 stopped working.
(12) On February 22, 2008, the Voyager-2 terminated the radio astronomy
experiment operations.
(13) On April 22, 2010, the Voyager-2 encountered scientific data format problems.
On May 23, it resumed sending science data from deep space after the flipped
bit of the onboard computer was fixed.
(14) On November 7, 2011, the Voyager-2 switched to the backup boosters to
conserve power.
(15) On July 25, 2012, the Voyager-2 was traveling at a velocity of 15.4 km/s relative to the Sun, and arrived at 99.13 AU from the Sun, at −55.29° declination
and 19.888-h right ascension, and also at −34.0° ecliptic latitude, placing it
in the constellation of Telescopium as observed from the Earth.
(16) On November 7, 2012, the Voyager-2 arrived at a position of 100 AU away
from the Sun, becoming the third man-made vehicle to reach this distance. At
this time, the Voyager-1 was 122 AU away from the Sun, and it was predicted
that the Pioneer-10 and Pioneer-11 were respectively at the positions of 107
AU and 83 AU. While the twin Pioneers have ceased communications, both of
the Voyager spacecrafts were well performing and still communicating with
the Earth.