Classroom Questions

Questions for ‘The biggest discoveries of Voyagers — NASA’s most distant explorers’   

an illustration showing one of the Voyager space probes passing close to the planet Jupiter

The Voyager space probes (one illustrated here with Jupiter) spent decades exploring our solar system. Now they’re going where no spacecraft has gone before: interstellar space. So far, Voyager 1 has traveled more than 15 billion miles and Voyager 2 more than 12 billion miles.

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By Science News Explores

To accompany ‘The biggest discoveries of Voyagers — NASA’s most distant explorers’ 

SCIENCE 

Before Reading:

  1. List two methods by which humans can explore extraterrestrial planets without needing a human to be physically present. For each method, describe one advantage and one disadvantage. 
  2. Explorations of our solar system often occur over long timelines. Imagine an engineer helps build a space probe to explore Neptune. This engineer knows that this probe will not reach its destination for more than a decade. Consider how this delay might affect an engineer’s motivation for their project. Use this scenario to describe how the long timelines often required for space exploration projects might be an obstacle for humans. What are some ways that we might overcome such obstacles?  
  3. Imagine you are a scientist making amazing discoveries using a spacecraft developed and launched many years before your time. How might you feel toward the original scientists who designed and developed the probe that makes your discoveries today possible? 

During Reading:

  1. What was the planned duration of the Voyager mission? How well did Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 meet this expectation? 
  2. What year did Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 reach the “outer planets”? 
  3. What incorrect assumption did the Voyager mission correct regarding the moons of non-Earth planets? How did Io — a moon of Jupiter — play a role in correcting this assumption? 
  4. Give one specific example of how events occurring on Io can affect Jupiter. 
  5. Explain the source of the “tiny impacts” detected by Voyager 2 as it flew by Saturn. 
  6. On which planet did the probes first detect extraterrestrial lightning? 
  7. Describe the size of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot relative to Earth.  
  8. Where did scientists discover the fastest winds in the solar system? 
  9. What problem did engineers encounter with Voyager 1 in 2023? 
  10. Describe the status of Voyager 1 in terms of operational equipment at the time of this story’s publication. 

After Reading:

  1. Describe how Voyager 1 played a role in Carl Sagan’s 1994 book, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. This story quotes a line from this book. Find a partner and read this quote aloud. Briefly discuss what you think this quote means. Use this quote to describe how the image taken by Voyager 1 might have changed some people’s perspective of our planet and the cosmos.  
  2. Planets in our solar system fall into two general categories: rocky planets and gas giants. Briefly describe how gas giants differ from rocky planets regarding surface characteristics. Imagine an extraterrestrial life form evolved to live in a gas giant. Come up with one physiological feature commonly seen in Earth-based life that this alien would not require. Now, come up with one feature this alien might have that would be uncommon among Earth-based lifeforms. Illustrate your alien and point out these traits. Give an example of a planet from which this alien might originate. If you were a scientist discovering this alien, what would you name it?