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only 10 minutes away by automo–
bile from the editorial offices of
The Plain Truth-were
ecstatic
both over the wealth of data
received and the incredible
smoothness of the operation.
"1
cannot recall ever being in
such a state of euphoria," said Dr.
Brad Smith, University ofArizona
astronomer, leader of the Imaging
Team, the unit responsible for
analyzing the picture data.
So successful was the mission
that Voyager Project Mission
Director Richard Laeser told
newsmen at one press briefing
attended by this writer that the
biggest concern throughout the
Voyager's encounter with Saturn
was not with the flurry of events
occurring a billion miles away in
space, but with problematic
weather conditions at one of the
receiving antenna locations
o~
earth.
The timing of the mission
approached pinpoint perfection.
After a journey lasting more than
three years, Voyager 1 was
/ess
than a minute late
in its rendez–
vous with Titan, one of Saturn's
outward orbiting moons-and
then only because Titan was not
quite where scientists thought it
would be in its orbit. The space
probe arrived at its destination at
the solar system's second Jargest
planet (after Jupiter, which it
flew by in March, 1979) only 19
kilometers (12 miles) off course.
Astonishingly, Voyager 1-
roughly the size of a compact-size
automobile-was fully automat–
ed.
It
was commanded by its own
onboard computers, preset before
encounter to react explicitly in its
many intended functions, as well
as all imaginable emergencies.
There was simply no time during
the instrumentation period for
the craft to react to commands
from Pasadena-more than 85
minutes away by the speed of
light.
What Was Learned
As a result of the Voyager ven–
ture-1 O years long in the plan–
ning and preparation stage–
scientists gleaned more informa-
tion about the mysterious ringed
planet than observers had learned
from sorne 370 years of study by
telescope from the earth.
Perhaps the most interesting
new facts about Saturn concerned
the composition of its unique
ring-plane system, which extends
far from the gaseous planet's
equator.
Before the Voyager's on-site
inspection, astronomers knew of
only six side-by-side rings, with
gaps in between them. Now, it is
estimated that there could be up
to 1,000-or even more--distinct
rings and ringlets. Wide bands
such as the B-ring, upon close
observation, appear to be com–
posed of hundreds of rings, look–
ing much like grooves on a phon–
ograph record.
Scientists are baffled at the
dynamics of sorne of the rings.
Tbe thin F-ring on the edge of
the ring plane, for example,
appears to be a "thread" com–
posed of three or more braided
strands, defying known laws con–
trolling orbiting objects. Dr.
Smith cautioned science writers,
however, that the F-ring was no
lawbreaker; it was just that the
laws it obeyed were not fully
understood as yet.
The enhanced complexity–
even beauty, when one looks at
the rings-of the Saturnian sys–
tem was offset by new knowledge
of its environment.
lt
is without a
doubt a world totally hostile to
life forms on earth. Peering
through Saturn's thick haze
!ayer, Voyager detected swirls of
giant storm systems, swept along
at nearly 900 miles an hour.
Worse yet, the major constituent
of Saturn's atmosphere appears to
be extremely frigid clouds of
ammonia.
The atmospheric composition
of Titan, Saturn's largest satellite,
offers no relief. Scientists had
anxiously anticipated analyzing
Titan's atmosphere since it is the
only moon in the solar system to
possess an atmosphere. They did
find plenty of nitrogen, the main
component of earth's atmosphere.
However, Titan is so unbelievably
cold (-183° Celsius, -300° Fah–
renheit) that its surface is be–
lieved to contain "murky
swamps" of liquid nitrogen-a
condition hardly conducive to
what scientists term "life-build–
ing processes."
The
PLAIN TRUTH