Trajectory
The simulator uses the current heliocentric vector direction and propagates along the measured outbound velocity vector. The visual path is a study line, not a full reconstructed gravity-assist trajectory.
Grand tour spacecraft
Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune.
Voyager 2 used a rare planetary alignment to fly by all four giant planets, then continued outward through the heliosphere into interstellar space.
Drag to rotate. Wheel to zoom. Right-drag to pan.
Live distance estimate
Voyager 2 now
Distance is propagated from a Sun-centered heliocentric ecliptic vector snapshot at 2026-05-11T00:00:00Z. The update uses the current browser time plus the same straight-line outbound velocity used in the simulator.
142.843 AU
21.369 billion km
15.266 km/s
54957 km/hr
Live updated
J2000 frame
Coordinate frame
Heliocentric ecliptic path
Mission facts
Spacecraft record
Science return
Why it matters
- Returned the only close-up spacecraft observations of Uranus and Neptune.
- Discovered or characterized rings, moons, magnetospheres, and atmospheric dynamics at the giant planets.
- Continues measuring the interstellar environment after leaving the heliosphere.
Simulator Interpretation
How Voyager is drawn in the 3D lab
Distance scale
Use the Voyager heliopause scale in the simulator to fit the Sun, planets, and both spacecraft in one view.
Live readout
The selected spacecraft panel updates AU, kilometers, km/s, and km/hr as simulation time advances.
Mathematical model
Mission trajectory and spacecraft model
Mission visuals combine catalog dates, distance vectors, speed estimates, and schematic spacecraft geometry. They are not CAD-certified vehicle meshes unless a source model is explicitly loaded.
Vector propagation
\[\mathbf{r}(t)=\mathbf{r}_0+\mathbf{v}(t-t_0)\]
For live-distance spacecraft pages, current position is propagated from epoch vector and velocity when high-precision ephemerides are not bundled.
Transfer curve
\[\mathbf{r}_{\mathrm{curve}}(u)=\operatorname{Bezier}\!\left(\mathbf{r}_{\mathrm{launch}},\mathbf{r}_{\mathrm{mid}},\mathbf{r}_{\mathrm{target}}\right)\]
Mission path arcs are schematic transfer curves anchored at meaningful endpoints, not claims of exact reconstructed trajectories.
Dimensional hierarchy
\[T_{\mathrm{world}}=T_{\mathrm{parent}}RS\]
Spacecraft parts are placed with transformation matrices. This proves the generated geometry is internally consistent even when simplified.
Verification standard: the rendered object must be reproducible from stated equations, catalog parameters, or explicit geometric transforms. Visual reference images may inform presentation only; they are not the source of orbital positions, field vectors, accretion-disk gradients, timing, or engineering layout.
Limitations: browser scenes may use bounded scale, compressed distances, simplified two-body dynamics, schematic transfer curves, or educational approximations where full numerical ephemerides, CFD, finite-element models, or general-relativistic ray tracing are outside the page scope. Those simplifications are part of the model contract, not hidden image-based construction.