Radio science investigations with Voyager

Abstract

The planned radio science investigations during the Voyager missions to the outer planets involve: (1) the use of the radio links to and from the spacecraft for occultation measurements of planetary and satellite atmospheres and ionospheres, the rings of Saturn, the solar corona, and the general-relativistic time delay for radiowave propagation through the Sun's gravity field; (2) radio link measurements of true or apparent spacecraft motion caused by the gravity fields of the planets, the masses of their larger satellites, and characteristics of the interplanetary medium; and (3) related measurements which could provide results in other areas, including the possible detection of long-wavelength gravitational radiation propagating through the Solar System. The measurements will be used to study: atmospheric and ionospheric structure, constituents, and dynamics; the sizes, radial distribution, total mass, and other characteristics of the particles in the rings of Saturn; interior models for the major planets and the mean density and bulk composition of a number of their satellites; the plasma density and dynamics of the solar corona and interplanetary medium; and certain fundamental questions involving gravitation and relativity. The instrumentation for these experiments is the same ground-based and spacecraft radio systems as will be used for tracking and communicating with the Voyager spacecraft, although several important features of these systems have been provided primarily for the radio science investigations.