fisher@dvinci.DEC (03/27/85)
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A recent "stardate" article in net.astro prompted me to start bringing
Voyager 2 back into active memory. Back when Voyager was launched, January
1986 seemed like a totally unreal date, but now it is approaching, and sure
enough, Voyager is approaching Uranus!
Can someone on the net tell us something about Voyager's health? Last I
remember, its scan platform had partially jammed while passing through
Saturn's rings. There was some speculation that a ring particle had jammed
it, although I think I remember that that idea has since been abandoned.
Has it been repaired ("Hello, Acme Spacecraft Repair? We've got this probe
out between Saturn and Uranus..."), or a workaround found? Also, the command
receiver had lots of problems right near the beginning of the mission. Is all
still holding together?
And finally, the stardate article indicated that there are lots of unknowns
about things like the number and size of the moons of Uranus. Won't they have
a significant effect on Voyager's course through the Uranus system? Are there
figures for the probability that Voyager will remain close enough to its
predicted course to continue on to Neptune? (BTW, what is the date of the
Neptune encounter?)
Starting to get excited already,
Burns
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