The Voyager probes performed several 'slingshot' manoeuvres when passing planets in the solar system. Each time a spacecraft approaches and passes a planet 'from behind' (relative to the planet's orbital motion), it 'steals' some of the planet's momentum. read more
The Voyager probes performed several 'slingshot' manoeuvres when passing planets in the solar system. Each time a spacecraft approaches and passes a planet 'from behind' (relative to the planet's orbital motion), it 'steals' some of the planet's momentum. read more
I can add one interesting bit about why Voyager 1 is going faster than Voyager 2. Voyager 1 had assists from Jupiter and Saturn, but Voyager 2 had assists from those and Uranus and Neptune. So you might think that Voyager 2 should have been accelerated more by the assists, and so should be going faster. read more