3 ms·

So you can get about 75% of Voyager 2's speed boost from a conjunction of just Jupiter and Saturn, which comes about a lot more often [1]. [1] http://en.wikipe

• planetguy 14y ago
  Here's an interesting graph: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Voyager_2_velocity_vs_distance_from_sun.svg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Voyager_2_velocity_vs_dist... Looks like Uranus gave a tiny boost and Neptune a negative boost -- not through any intrinsic property of the planet, mind you, just the constraints applied when you want to tour the whole solar system without burning any fuel.
  • dalke 14y ago
    That's the same graph as the JPL link I pointed out earlier, but clearer and with more description. It shows that my earlier reading was incorrect. It looks like the delta-V from Jupiter is 11km/s, Saturn is 8km/s, Uranus is 1km/s and Neptune, as you point out, is a negative delta V w.r.t distance from the Sun. Note that the comment says it's because Voyager 2 deflected out of the plane of the ecliptic as a consequence of doing a flyby of Triton, and not because of fuel constraints. In any case, I had forgotten that Voyager I did not do the grand tour of the giants. I haven't been able to find a similar velocity profile for Voyager I.