What Is The Voyangers?

[Mysterio 0]

Voyager 1 and 2 were the first in that series to be sent to explore the outer solar system. Preceeded by the Pioneer 10 and 11 missions, Voyager 1 and 2 were to make studies of Jupiter and Saturn, their satellites, and their magnetospheres as well as studies of the interplanetary medium. An option designed into the Voyager 2 trajectory, and ultimately exercised, would direct it toward Uranus and Neptune to perform similar studies.

 

Although launched sixteen days after Voyager 2, Voyager 1's trajectory was a faster path, arriving at Jupiter in March of 1979. Voyager 2 arrived about four months later in July 1979. Both spacecraft were then directed on to Saturn with arrival times in November 1980 (Voyager 1) and August 1981 (Voyager 2). Voyager 2 was then diverted to the remaining gas giants, Uranus (January 1986) and Neptune (August 1989). A more detailed table specifying the closest approach distances/times for these encounters is available.

 

Data collected by Voyager 1 and 2 were not confined to the periods surrounding encounters with the outer gas giants, with the various fields and particles experiments and the ultraviolet spectrometer collecting data nearly continuously during the interplanetary cruise phases of the mission. Data collection continues as the renamed Voyager Interstellar Mission searches for the edge of the solar wind's influence (the heliopause) and exits the solar system.

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Source http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/voyager.html

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Edited December 7, 2005 by BuffaloHELP (see edit history)

[Plenoptic 0]

Gotta love some of the first space shuttles sent up in space. They went through a lot to get us where we are today. Look at us now. Japan has a space probe taking samples from an asteroid and we have space stations up there now. That would be really cool if we found another planet with life like us on there. I wonder if we would be able to live there ourselves. I am rooting for more discoveries on Mars. I once spent a month reading about Mars and have always been interested with it.

[Cerebral Stasis 0]

The chances of us finding life elsewhere within our lifetimes is very small, unless some superior race comes seeking contact (or conquest), assuming it's even possible, of course.Personally, I would love it if life (not necessarily sentient) was discovered elsewhere; it would mean that space really was worth exploring (for reasons besides the view; if Earth had the only life in the universe, what would be the point of exploring?) and that those science fiction fantasies may hold some merit. Furthermore, it would debunk some things that I am really tired of arguing over (evolution, creation, etc.).