When NASA scientists launched Voyager 1 and 2 back in 1977, it was a monumental team effort under intense time pressure. In an attempt to study Jupiter and Saturn, thousands worked together in a matter of months to take advantage of a rare four-planet alignment that only occurs once every 175 years. This extraordinary collaboration would ultimately result in one of the greatest scientific achievements in the history of space exploration.

 

Though primitive by today’s standards, each satellite had exactly what it needed to complete the initial surveys of Jupiter and Saturn. Then, scientists realized they could use the basic laws of physics to expand the missions’ reach even further. Using a “gravity assist”, the Voyager probes used each aligned planet’s gravitational pull as a slingshot to Uranus and Neptune - and then beyond even the edges of the solar system.

 

We are all on our own paths toward a vast unknown. We go through life unaware of how small decisions will culminate in one complete life story. In the end, we hit the edges of our own sense of what is possible and break through to our own personal interstellar voyage. Given all the challenges we face, there is only one sure path to success: the help of others. With the right team, approaches, and tools, each of us can experience that slingshot toward a limitless future.

 

Gravity Assist is the support system to help you reach those faraway goals, to guide you through the high points and rough patches, to push you when you need that extra burst of energy - then cheer you on as you fly into orbit.

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{Images used Courtesy of NASA https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov}