Voyager 2
Voyager 2 is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. As a part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, Voyager 1, on a trajectory that took longer to reach gas giants Jupiter and Saturn but enabled further encounters with ice giants Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to have visited either of the ice giant planets, and was the third of five spacecraft to achieve Solar escape velocity, which allowed it to leave the Solar System.
Model of the Voyager spacecraft design | |
| Mission type | Planetary exploration |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA / JPL |
| COSPAR ID | 1977-076A |
| SATCAT no. | 10271 |
| Website | voyager |
| Mission duration |
|
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
| Launch mass | 721.9 kilograms (1,592 lb) |
| Power | 470 watts (at launch) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | August 20, 1977, 14:29:00 UTC |
| Rocket | Titan IIIE |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral LC-41 |
| Flyby of Jupiter | |
| Closest approach | July 9, 1979 |
| Distance | 570,000 kilometers (350,000 mi) |
| Flyby of Saturn | |
| Closest approach | August 26, 1981 |
| Distance | 101,000 km (63,000 mi) |
| Flyby of Uranus | |
| Closest approach | January 24, 1986 |
| Distance | 81,500 km (50,600 mi) |
| Flyby of Neptune | |
| Closest approach | August 25, 1989 |
| Distance | 4,951 km (3,076 mi) |
Voyager 2 successfully fulfilled its primary mission of visiting the Jovian system in 1979, the Saturnian system in 1981, Uranian system in 1986, and the Neptunian system in 1989. The spacecraft is now in its extended mission of studying interstellar space. It is at a distance of 136 AU (20.3 billion km; 12.6 billion mi) from Earth as of January 2024.
The probe entered interstellar space on November 5, 2018, at a distance of 119.7 AU (11.1 billion mi; 17.9 billion km) from the Sun and moving at a velocity of 15.341 km/s (34,320 mph) relative to the Sun. Voyager 2 has left the Sun's heliosphere and is traveling through the interstellar medium, a region of outer space beyond the influence of the Solar System, joining Voyager 1, which had reached the interstellar medium in 2012. Voyager 2 has begun to provide the first direct measurements of the density and temperature of the interstellar plasma.
Voyager 2 remains in contact with Earth through the NASA Deep Space Network. Communications are the responsibility of Australia's DSS 43 communication antenna, located near Canberra.