Gary Flandro

Assembled from 18 blocks · 1 evidence · 53 related

1. Story
2. The aerospace engineer who, working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1965 while a graduate student, identified the specific late-1970s alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune that would allow a single spacecraft to reach all four using successive gravity assists. He published the analysis in the mid-1960s as a study of fast reconnaissance missions to the outer solar system powered by Jupiter's gravitational field. The finding turned an abstract technique into a dated opportunity with a closing window, which is what made a four-planet mission arguable inside a budget process. Not a place.
3. Knowledge
4. Gary Flandro
5. The Grand Tour alignment
6. Connections
7. The Grand Tour alignment
8. Flandro identifies a four-planet gravity-assist opportunity
9. Voyager 1
10. Voyager 2
11. Gary Flandro
12. Gravity assist
13. Jupiter
14. Saturn
15. Uranus
16. Neptune
17. Evidence
18. The late-1970s alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune permits a single spacecraft to reach all four by successive gravity assists, an opportunity recurring only on a timescale of roughly 175 to 176 years. V55 verification basis: NOT CHECKED IN THIS RUN. The title, journal, volume and year are given from standard citation practice and the search budget was exhausted before they could be confirmed; the 175 versus 176 year figure differs between accounts and is deliberately given as a range. A curator must verify this citation before publication.