Author Topic: What ever happened to the third Voyager spacecraft?  (Read 7605 times)

Offline LunarOrbit

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What ever happened to the third Voyager spacecraft?
« on: January 10, 2014, 09:17:48 PM »
Someone on my other forum has a question about the Voyager probes that I'm hoping someone here can answer:

Quote
I am currently reading the book Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds In The Third Great Age Of Discovery by Stephen J. Pyne.
On the second chapter, it is listed that there were three Voyager spacecraft.  The second Voyager, VGR 77-2 had flaws and it was used for spare parts for Voyager 1 (VGR 77-1) and Voyager 2 (VGR 77-3).
I tried looking up information about the whereabouts of VGR 77-2 but could not find anything.  I wondered if the full-size model at the NASM is it, but it is listed as a test model.  I am sure every scientific instrument and the RTGs were pulled off the spacecraft and reused for other spacecraft but whatever happened to it?

I was going to call it Voyager 3 but it was the second spacecraft built, so I just refer to it as VGR 77-2.
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Offline Nowhere Man

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Re: What ever happened to the third Voyager spacecraft?
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2014, 09:40:10 PM »
The Magellan probe used a spare bus and main antenna left over from the Voyager program.  Don't know if they were from this "missing" craft, however.

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Offline raven

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Re: What ever happened to the third Voyager spacecraft?
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2014, 11:17:15 AM »
I don't know, but I know what happened to the sixth one. ;)
Still,  this sounds fascinating and I hope you find something.

Offline Glom

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Re: What ever happened to the third Voyager spacecraft?
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2014, 12:12:00 PM »
I don't know, but I know what happened to the sixth one. ;)
Still,  this sounds fascinating and I hope you find something.

I knew someone would say something like that, primarily because I was about to do it myself.

Offline raven

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Re: What ever happened to the third Voyager spacecraft?
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2014, 07:06:32 PM »
I don't know, but I know what happened to the sixth one. ;)
Still,  this sounds fascinating and I hope you find something.

I knew someone would say something like that, primarily because I was about to do it myself.
Well, geek minds think alike. ;D

Offline dwight

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Re: What ever happened to the third Voyager spacecraft?
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2014, 05:25:59 PM »
Listen we are not supposed to mention the sixth one, just yet, otherwise we might cause a rift in the space/time continuum.
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Offline raven

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Re: What ever happened to the third Voyager spacecraft?
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2014, 12:45:58 AM »
Listen we are not supposed to mention the sixth one, just yet, otherwise we might cause a rift in the space/time continuum.
Well, that tears it! :o

Offline Andromeda

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Re: What ever happened to the third Voyager spacecraft?
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2014, 10:26:38 AM »
The Doctor will save us.
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'" - Isaac Asimov.