How The Sun Kept Voyager On Course

How does a spacecraft know where it is when it’s billions of miles from Earth? For Voyager, the answer was stars, sunlight, and a surprisingly clever backup system. Voyager 2 used star trackers to determine its orientation in space, while a Sun sensor helped keep its antenna pointed back toward Earth. But during planetary flybys, the Sun could be blocked from view, so Voyager relied on onboard gyroscopes to maintain its orientation until the Sun reappeared. This level of accuracy was crucial, because when you’re navigating the outer Solar System, even a tiny error can send you hopelessly off course.