UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — What Voyager’s journey tells us about the purpose of exploration

Q1. Consider the following statements regarding the launch of NASA's twin Voyager probes: 1. Voyager 2 was launched on 20 August 1977, ahead of Voyager 1. 2. Both probes were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. 3. Voyager 1 was launched on 5 September 1977 on a faster trajectory than its twin. 4. The pair was originally sanctioned as a four-planet mission with a nominal duration of twelve years. Which of the above is/are NOT correct?

  1. Voyager 2 was launched on 20 August 1977, ahead of Voyager 1.
  2. Both probes were launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
  3. Voyager 1 was launched on 5 September 1977 on a faster trajectory than its twin.
  4. The pair was originally sanctioned as a four-planet mission with a nominal duration of twelve years.
  • A. 1 and 3
  • B. 2 and 4
  • C. 2, 3 and 4
  • D. 4 only

Q2. Voyager 1 reached Saturn — the second and last planet of its own planetary tour — in which month and year?

  • A. March 1979, after which it turned towards the inner solar system
  • B. November 1980, after which it adopted an escape trajectory
  • C. January 1986, after which it was redirected towards Neptune
  • D. August 1989, after which it ended its planetary encounters

Q3. Voyager 2's extension beyond its originally planned targets to Uranus and Neptune was made possible chiefly by a gravity assist obtained at which one of the following bodies?

  • A. Jupiter, the first giant planet encountered by the probe
  • B. Saturn, the second giant planet encountered by the probe
  • C. Neptune, the outermost giant planet in the solar system
  • D. Earth, during a return swing-by early in the cruise

Q4. The rare alignment of the outer planets that the Voyager 'grand tour' was designed to exploit recurs approximately once in how many years?

  • A. About 88 years
  • B. About 165 years
  • C. About 176 years
  • D. About 248 years

Q5. In the context of the Voyager probes' entry into interstellar space, the term 'heliopause' refers to which one of the following?

  • A. The boundary at which the outward pressure of the solar wind is balanced by that of the interstellar medium
  • B. The surface at which the outflowing solar wind abruptly decelerates from supersonic to subsonic speeds
  • C. The turbulent zone of slowed solar wind lying between that deceleration surface and the outer boundary
  • D. The whole spherical volume around the Sun that is pervaded by solar magnetic fields and solar wind

Q6. Voyager 2 crossed the heliopause and entered interstellar space in which month and year?

  • A. December 2004
  • B. August 2007
  • C. August 2012
  • D. November 2018

Q7. Consider the following statements about the planets and moons surveyed by the Voyager probes: 1. Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter in March 1979 and Saturn in November 1980. 2. Voyager 1, using a gravity assist at Saturn, went on to become the only probe so far to have flown past Uranus. 3. Voyager 2 flew past all four giant outer planets, reaching Neptune in August 1989. 4. Between them, the two probes studied 48 moons of the outer planets. Which of the above is/are NOT correct?

  1. Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter in March 1979 and Saturn in November 1980.
  2. Voyager 1, using a gravity assist at Saturn, went on to become the only probe so far to have flown past Uranus.
  3. Voyager 2 flew past all four giant outer planets, reaching Neptune in August 1989.
  4. Between them, the two probes studied 48 moons of the outer planets.
  • A. 1 and 3
  • B. 2 only
  • C. 2 and 4
  • D. 3 and 4

Q8. The design and operation of the Voyager spacecraft has been carried out for NASA by which one of the following centres?

  • A. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, managed by the California Institute of Technology
  • B. The Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
  • C. The Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
  • D. The Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

Q9. The committee constituted by NASA in 1977 to choose the images, sounds and music placed aboard the Voyager Golden Record was chaired by:

  • A. Alan Lomax, the ethnomusicologist who proposed many of its musical selections
  • B. Carl Sagan, the astronomer who later popularised the mission's cosmic perspective
  • C. Kurt Waldheim, the United Nations Secretary-General whose message it carries
  • D. Jimmy Carter, the United States President whose message it also carries

Q10. 'The Sounds of the Earth', the 1977 recording carried aboard the Voyager probes, was inducted in 2007 into the National Recording Registry administered by:

  • A. The Library of Congress
  • B. The National Archives and Records Administration
  • C. The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution
  • D. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology

Q11. Consider the following statements comparing the two Voyager probes and the way their journey has been interpreted: 1. Voyager 1, travelling at an average speed of about 17 km/s, is expected to be roughly one light-day from Earth by November 2026. 2. Voyager 1 entered interstellar space about six years before Voyager 2, even though Voyager 2 had been launched about two weeks earlier. 3. Stephen Pyne's 'Voyager: Exploration, Space, and the Third Great Age of Discovery' classifies writers on exploration into 'lumpers' and 'splitters'. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Voyager 1, travelling at an average speed of about 17 km/s, is expected to be roughly one light-day from Earth by November 2026.
  2. Voyager 1 entered interstellar space about six years before Voyager 2, even though Voyager 2 had been launched about two weeks earlier.
  3. Stephen Pyne's 'Voyager: Exploration, Space, and the Third Great Age of Discovery' classifies writers on exploration into 'lumpers' and 'splitters'.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 1 and 3 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q12. Consider the following statements about the power system that keeps the Voyager probes operating in deep space: 1. Electrical power is drawn from radioisotope thermoelectric generators that convert the decay heat of plutonium-238. 2. Because plutonium-238 has a half-life of about 88 years, the generators' electrical output declines in a slow and predictable manner. 3. Solar photovoltaic arrays supplement the generators once the probes travel beyond Saturn's orbit. 4. Radioisotope power systems of the same family have also been used on the Cassini and New Horizons missions. Which of the above is/are correctly identified?

  1. Electrical power is drawn from radioisotope thermoelectric generators that convert the decay heat of plutonium-238.
  2. Because plutonium-238 has a half-life of about 88 years, the generators' electrical output declines in a slow and predictable manner.
  3. Solar photovoltaic arrays supplement the generators once the probes travel beyond Saturn's orbit.
  4. Radioisotope power systems of the same family have also been used on the Cassini and New Horizons missions.
  • A. 1, 2 and 4
  • B. 1 and 3
  • C. 2, 3 and 4
  • D. 1 and 2 only