Fantastic Voyage
In 1977, I was thirteen years old. Two memorable things happened that year. Star Wars premiered and the two Voyager space craft were launched to study Jupiter and Saturn.
(Click on the picture to go to the JPL website for all things Voyager.)
I waited several years for that launch. My grandparents had given me a subscription to a children's science magazine, and one of the articles within its pages explained about the upcoming mission. I was completely fascinated. I devoured any news I could get of the mission in between that first introduction and the actual launch. (When you're a kid, three or four years is a long time to wait.) I imagine most of my peers remember only the Star Wars premiere ~ which was completely spectacular ~ as the launch was only the beginning, and many people do not hold the same curiousity about what lies beyond the confines of our planet that I do. It took the Voyagers two years to reach Jupiter ~ another eternity as far as I was concerned. In 1980, they investigated Saturn. The exploration of the Jupiter and Saturn systems was so successful that their mission was extended. In 1986 the Voyagers visited Uranus, and in 1989, Neptune.
35 years after the launch, the two Voyagers are about to embark on a new phase of their continually extended mission. They are poised to enter interstellar space. Both are still sending back data even as they are about to leave the solar system. Unbelievable considering the computers have just 68 KB memory. Voyager 1, in the lead, is over 18 billion kilometers from the sun, and it takes a message over 33 minutes to make the round trip between the space craft and Earth.
So what's the big deal about leaving the solar system? It's all about the interstellar particles. Leaving the solar system is defined as the point in which the outer limits of the sun's magnetic field and the solar wind no longer hold sway, and the interstellar medium begins to predominate. For the first time, astronomers will be able to measure the particles of interstellar space outside of the sun's influence. Something we humans have never done before. Heady stuff for a geek like me.
(Click on the picture for the enlarged version.)
I am aware of the fact that there are other equally intriguing ongoing space missions ~ predominately to Mars at the current time ~ but the Voyagers will always be special to me. Somehow their launch juxtapositioned with Star Wars all seemed incredibly awe-inspiring to my thirteen year old self. It felt as if humanity were on the brink of something wonderful. And while it's easy to point fingers at all of the crap for which humans are responsible, I like to remember we can do really cool stuff too.