Technology '90: the main event (Voyager 2 project)

Voyager 2's flyby past the planet Neptune in August 1989 is recounted, focusing on its engineering achievements. The failure of its prime receiver only seven months after launch was followed by the failure of a tracking-loop capacitor in its backup receiver. Through clever engineering, that out...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE spectrum 1990-01, Vol.27 (1), p.28-29
Main Author: Bell, T.E.
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Brightness
Cameras
Earth
Filters
Jamming
Jupiter
Saturn
Software testing
Space vehicles
Sun
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Summary:Voyager 2's flyby past the planet Neptune in August 1989 is recounted, focusing on its engineering achievements. The failure of its prime receiver only seven months after launch was followed by the failure of a tracking-loop capacitor in its backup receiver. Through clever engineering, that outage proved no more than an inconvenience. Its cameras were meant to work only in certain modes; en route Voyager's computers were reprogrammed with entirely new manoeuvers to stabilize an image and allow much longer exposures, so that resolution remained as good as in the images of its earlier, better-lit encounters.< >
ISSN:0018-9235
1939-9340
DOI:10.1109/6.45050