Nasa's Voyager Missions

by Evans, Ben

• ISBN13: 9781852337452
• ISBN10: 1852337451
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-11-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

For the first time, in one volume, Ben Evans with David Harland will not only tell the story of the hugely successful Voyager missions, but also that of the men and women who have devoted their entire working lives to them. Illustrated with stunning images, some in color, they describe the missions from their conception, through their spectacular encounters with the outer planets and on to their ultimate and, as yet, unknown destination among the stars in the so-called Voyager Interstellar Mission

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	xiii
Author's preface	xvii
Acknowledgements	xix
1 Wanderers	1	(38)
Divine origins	1	(2)
The Earth moves!	3	(5)
Support from Kepley	8	(1)
The genius of Galileo	9	(4)
Huygens and Saturn's rings	13	(1)
The structure of the rings	14	(3)
The discovery of Uranus	17	(2)
More planets?	19	(2)
Problems with Uranus	21	(1)
The frustrating search for an eighth planet	22	(4)
Neptune: a planet found on a piece of paper	26	(2)
A major scandal	28	(1)
Pre-discovery sightings of Neptune?	29	(1)
The search for 'Planet X' and discovery of Pluto	30	(3)
An insignificant speck?	33	(1)
Theories of formation	34	(3)
The modern nebular hypothesis	37	(2)
2 A chance of three lifetimes	39	(34)
A remarkable achievement	39	(1)
Reaching the outer planets	40	(2)
The Grand Tour and Project Voyager	42	(2)
Plutonium power source	44	(3)
An ambitious and expensive venture	47	(1)
Cancellation and aftermath	48	(3)
Trajectories	51	(1)
The Voyager spacecraft	52	(2)
Communications	54	(4)
Cameras	58	(1)
Remote-sensing equipment	59	(2)
The problem of distance	61	(2)
A shaky start	63	(4)
Sailing in the solar wind	67	(2)
Closing in on Jupiter	69	(4)
3 Into the realm of Jove	73	(54)
An explosive discovery	73	(2)
Volcanoes or geysers?	75	(1)
An active surface	76	(1)
Silicate or sulphur flows?	77	(4)
Sulphur dioxide plumes	81	(1)
Mountain-building	82	(2)
Lava lakes	84	(2)
A young surface	86	(1)
Tenuous atmosphere	86	(1)
A tormented world	87	(1)
Plasma 'torus'	88	(1)
Jupiter's harsh magnetosphere	89	(3)
King of the Planets	92	(1)
A strange interior	93	(1)
A colourful atmosphere	94	(1)
The Great Red Spot	95	(2)
White ovals	97	(1)
Tumultuous weather	98	(2)
The 'Jovian Lights'	100	(1)
The Jovian rings	101	(3)
Waterworld	104	(1)
The right ingredients for life?	105	(1)
A bright, young surface	106	(2)
'Triple bands'	108	(1)
Lack of craters on Europa	109	(2)
Thickness of Europa's crust	111	(1)
Different terrain types	112	(3)
Europa's tenuous atmosphere	115	(1)
A planet-sized moon	115	(1)
Bright and dark terrain	116	(1)
Cryovolcanism2	117	(1)
Craters on Ganymede	118	(1)
A thin atmosphere	119	(1)
Oceans on Ganymede and Callisto too?	120	(1)
Siblings with very different life stories?	121	(1)
An ancient, crater-saturated world	122	(3)
Onward to Saturn	125	(2)
4 Ringworld!	127	(42)
Worth the wait	127	(1)
A bland, orange world	128	(1)
Chemical cocktail	128	(2)
Titan's evolution	130	(1)
Atmospheric photochemistry	131	(1)
A glimpse of surface features	132	(2)
Hydrocarbon 'seas'?	134	(1)
Weather	135	(1)
Life on Titan?	136	(1)
Rhea	137	(2)
Hyperion	139	(2)
Tethys and Mimas: victims of Population II?	141	(3)
Enceladus	144	(1)
Dione	145	(3)
New moons	148	(1)
The rings	149	(3)
Characteristics of the rings	152	(1)
Composition	153	(2)
Ring particle sizes	155	(1)
Intricate structure in the rings	155	(3)
Theories of formation	158	(1)
Rings around terrestrial planets?	159	(1)
A lightweight planet	159	(1)
Atmospheric storms	160	(2)
Aurorae	162	(1)
Magnetic field	163	(1)
'Mid-sized' moons	164	(1)
Phoebe: a captured asteroid?	165	(2)
Divergent paths	167	(2)
5 Bull's eye	169	(30)
Triumph and tragedy	169	(1)
A tempting opportunity	169	(1)
An unknown planet	170	(1)
A journey of uncertainty	171	(1)
DSN upgrades	172	(1)
The 'bull's eye' world	173	(2)
A surprising discovery	175	(1)
Planning for the encounter	176	(2)
A bland place	178	(2)
Dark moons	180	(1)
Magnetic field	181	(2)
Mysterious Miranda	183	(3)
Dark Umbriel	186	(2)
A variety of surface features	188	(3)
New moons	191	(1)
Uranus' rings	192	(2)
Shepherd moons	194	(1)
A different Uranus	195	(4)
6 The "boiling cauldron"	199	(32)
Inauspicious discovery	199	(1)
The question of rings	200	(2)
Preparations for Neptune	202	(2)
Closest planetary encounter	204	(2)
Neptune's moons as navigational aids	206	(1)
A surprisingly active world	207	(2)
A floppy, unstable storm	209	(1)
A changing atmosphere	210	(3)
Internal heat	213	(1)
A sky-blue atmosphere	214	(1)
Rings at last!	215	(4)
Origin of Triton	219	(1)
A captured Kuiper Belt object7	219	(1)
Where are the 'mid-sized' moons?	220	(1)
Proteus and Nereid	221	(1)
Close encounter with Triton	222	(1)
A tenuous 'atmosphere'	223	(1)
Triton's surface	224	(1)
An active surface?	225	(2)
Departure from Neptune	227	(4)
7 "... this bottle into the cosmic ocean"	231	(16)
Family portrait	231	(2)
The 'interstellar medium'	233	(3)
The power management lottery	236	(1)
First hints of the heliopause7	237	(1)
Semi-autonomous operations	238	(2)
Future encounters	240	(1)
Murmurs of Earth	241	(3)
Silent wanderers	244	(3)
8 Future Voyagers	247	(20)
Return to Saturn and Titan	247	(4)
First landing on Titan	251	(2)
A solid or liquid surface?	253	(1)
A comprehensive survey of Saturn	254	(3)
A multi-faceted spacecraft	257	(1)
JIMO: a mission to Jupiter's moons	258	(2)
Interstellar Probe	260	(1)
Atmospheric balloons on Titan?	260	(1)
The final frontier: Pluto and New Horizons	261	(2)
A helping hand from Jupiter	263	(1)
First glimpse of a Kuiper Belt Object?	264	(1)
Other outer-planet ventures	265	(2)
Bibliography	267	(10)
Index	277