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Home , Nick Sagan, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Voyager Golden Record

Jet SEPTEMBER Propulsion 2007 Laboratory volume 37

number 9

The key activities in the first few weeks of flight will include inspections of sci- ence instruments, radar and the communication system that will be used during and after the landing. Goldstein said that in-flight calibration tests of ’s instruments would be conducted about every week or so during the cruise phase of the journey. The first instrument to undergo in-flight checkout was the Thermal and Evolved- Gas Analyzer, on Aug. 20, followed by calibration of Phoenix’s robotic arm tem- perature scoop near the end of the month. To be monitored in September are the robotic arm’s camera and the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, as well as the calibration of the Sur- face Stereoscopic Imager’s camera. The only Phoenix instrument not requiring checkout during the early cruise phase is the Mars Descent Imager, Guinn said, which won’t undergo such scrutiny until Feb. 25. The camera will take a downward-looking picture during the final moments before Phoenix lands on Mars. Meantime, an overall operations readiness test is scheduled for the first week of October at Phoenix’s operations center at the University of Arizona in Tucson, which maintains a testbed facility to help iron out potential issues discovered in testing. Guinn said this capability gives him and the team confidence that the journey will proceed trouble-free. Phoenix will be the first mission to touch water-ice on Mars. Its robotic arm will dig into an icy layer believed to lie just beneath the surface. The mission will study the history of the water in the ice, monitor of the polar region and investigate whether the subsurface environment in the far-northern plains of Mars has ever been favorable for sustaining microbial life. “Water is central to every type of study we will conduct on Mars,” said Peter Phoenix rises Smith of the University of Arizona, the mission’s principal investigator. Phoenix is the first of NASA’s competitively proposed and selected Mars Scout missions, supplementing the agency’s core , whose Phoenix lifts off theme is “follow the water.” The University of Arizona is the first public university from from Cape to lead a Mars exploration mission. Canaveral Air Phoenix uses the main body of a lander originally made for a 2001 mission that was cancelled before launch. “During the past year we have run Phoenix through By Guy Webster and Mark Whalen Force Base Aug. 4. a rigorous testing regimen,” said Ed Sedivy, Phoenix program manager for Systems, Denver, which built the spacecraft. “The Safely launched and its path to Mars adjusted in the testing approach runs the spacecraft and integrated instruments through actual mission sequences, allowing us to assess the entire system through the life of the right direction, JPL’s Phoenix lander is well on its way mission while here on Earth.” Samples of soil and ice collected by the lander’s robotic arm will be analyzed by to a Red rendezvous next spring. instruments mounted on the deck. One key instrument will check for water and carbon-containing compounds by heating soil samples in tiny ovens and examin- “The launch team did a spectacular job getting us on the way,” said Project ing the vapors that are given off. Another will test soil samples by adding water Manager Barry Goldstein. “Our trajectory is still being evaluated in detail; how- and analyzing the dissolution products. Cameras and microscopes will provide in- ever, we are well within expected limits for a successful journey.” formation on scales spanning 10 powers of 10, from features that could fit by the Indeed, six days after its Aug. 4 liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in hundreds into a period at the end of a sentence to the aerial view taken during Florida, Phoenix performed the first and largest of six course corrections planned descent. A weather station will provide information about atmospheric processes during the spacecraft’s flight to Mars. The first trajectory-correction maneuver in the arctic region. was calculated to tweak the velocity by about 18.5 meters per second (41 mph). Lockheed Martin shares operational roles with The spacecraft fired its four mid-size thrusters for three minutes and 17 seconds JPL. International contributions are provided by to adjust its trajectory. the Canadian Space Agency; the University of The next trajectory correction is scheduled for October, with others to follow Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Co- when the spacecraft nears Mars. One correction is planned for April and three penhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; the Max Planck others for May, including the final one on landing day, May 25. Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorologi- “All the subsystems are functioning as expected with few deviations from pre- cal Institute. dicted performance,” said JPL’s Joe Guinn, Phoenix’s mission system manager. For more information on the mission, visit “We’ve been very fortunate to not run into any anomalies at all.” http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix or http://phoenix.lpl. “Everything is going extraordinarily well,” Goldstein added. arizona.edu. 2 Terrestrial message nears niverse U interstellar space Voyager celebrates 30 years

Former Voyager Project Manager John Casani, left, and Project Scientist Ed Stone.

By Janna Brancolini

A mission that was supposed to last just five years is celebrating its 30th As the Voyager spacecraft have headed to unexplored regions of space over the anniversary as JPL scientists continue to receive data from the and 2 past three decades, the mission has garnered the type of public following and spacecraft during their approach of interstellar space. professional recognition that most scientists only dream about. Scientists and the “That’s what amazes people—at JPL open houses they say, ‘You’re still tracking public alike followed each discovery, learning about the volcanoes on ’s them?’” said Steve Howard, the mission’s ground data systems engineer who has moon , the suggestion of an ocean beneath ’s icy crust, the complexity of been with the Voyager team since 1985. ’s ring structure and the possibility of methane rain on . launched on Aug. 20, 1977, and was the first spacecraft to visit all “It’s because of the pictures,” Casani said of why the public was so involved in four of the gas-giant : Jupiter, Saturn, and . Using gravity the Voyager fly-bys. “Nobody expected that the and Saturn would assist, it took Voyager 2 only 12 years to visit these planets instead of the nor- be anything other than the dull landscape of our own moon. These pictures kept mal 30. Although the craft was originally slated to visit just Jupiter and Saturn coming back and the moons were all different—colorful, dramatic images.” in a five-year mission, scientists took advantage of a unique planetary alignment Stone agreed, noting that although everyone involved in the project knew that that allowed them to re-program Voyager 2’s trajectory throughout the mission. It Voyager was a journey of discovery, they didn’t know how much there was to is currently headed to the heliosheath, a shock wave caused by winds radiating discover. outward from the . “The thing that Voyager really did was give us a new view of the by Voyager 1 launched on Sept. 5, 1977, and is -made object revealing the complexity and the diversity of the objects in it,” he said. from Earth. It was put on a faster path to Jupiter, and it was named Voyager 1 be- Casani added that the pictures not only revealed new worlds to the public, but cause it arrived at the solar system’s largest planet first, despite being launched allowed them to connect with the discoveries in a way that numerical and other second, according to former project manager John Casani. Voyager 1 swung by data would not have. Jupiter and headed to Saturn where it flew behind the inclined rings, sending it “People can imagine being behind the camera, whereas if it’s all data that’s upward at 35 degrees above the plane of the planets. It has already entered the coming back … it turns on some scientists, but most people can’t connect to it,” heliosheath, and scientists predict it is just a few years away from interstellar he said. “You can imagine being in a rocket ship and seeing (what’s in those im- space. Once there it will be completely beyond the sun’s influence. ages), and that connection is what makes people interested. People are explorers “Voyager opens up the future,” said Ed Stone, Voyager’s project scientist and at heart. This is a way of seeing what had never been seen before, and it made former JPL director. “It points to a way to journey deep into space. The Voyager them almost like real-time participants.” spacecraft will be the first human-made objects to reach interstellar space, so The Voyager craft have also become a fixture of pop culture, inspiring novels that’s an important milestone.” He added that although Voyager’s initial mission and playing a central role in television shows, music videos, songs and movies was to explore only Jupiter and Saturn, the goal was to continue on to Uranus and from the 1980s and 1990s. Many of these fictional works focus on what would Neptune, and eventually reach interstellar space. happen if an alien race were able to locate Earth via Voyager’s famous golden Stone explained that the sun has a wind blowing radially outwards at 1 mil- records, which include sounds and images of Earth. The selections portray people lion to 2 million mph. This creates a bubble, which is called the , and male and female, young and old—as well as examples of other species—and almost everything in the heliosphere is associated with the sun. Voyager 1 has include information about every continent on the planet, as well as Earth’s loca- reached the outermost layer of the heliosphere, and Voyager 2 is nearly there. tion in space. Although it has not yet reached interstellar space, Voyager is collecting data Previous NASA missions included plaques with information about Earth in case that will help scientists measure the size and shape of the heliosphere, which an intelligent alien race intercepted the probes. This spurred Casani to appoint is determined by the pressure of what is outside of it in interstellar space. By astronomer and author to head a committee to come up with a mes- measuring its , , energetic ions and low-frequency radio sage for Voyager. waves, scientists study the heliosphere’s shape to learn about what is outside the In his book “Murmurs of Earth,” Sagan later described how the committee cre- heliosphere and pressing inward on it. ated the record and chose its contents. Physicist suggested the idea of a record that would have pictures on one side and sounds on the other side. The group had less than six weeks to come up with a record that would represent 3 the entire population of Earth—in addition to the planet itself—if it were ever dis- covered by an intelligent alien race. Although the chances of extraterrestrials finding the message are extremely slim, the has become an icon. niverse U “It’s the classic . The likelihood of finding it is small, but the payoff is huge if it is found,” said , a science media producer and au- . Druyan was appointed creative director of the record project and later married Sagan. Stone explained that although there is almost no chance of the record being found, the record is important as a message to ourselves. “In a sense it’s a unifying message,” Stone said. “It’s a message from Earth. It contains greetings in many languages, music from many cultures and images that portray our home planet. It’s our attempt to say what is Earth, and it’s a record of who we think we are.” Druyan also explained that the coupling of music and science was an especially compelling reason to devote so much energy to the record. “The record represented the idea that science and technology could come to- gether with art,” said Druyan, who also designed the sound essay. “It’s one of the few totally great stories that we have about . It cost the taxpayers virtually nothing, nobody got killed. It was a way to celebrate the of being alive on this tiny blue dot in 1977. “This was the most romantic and beautiful project ever attempted by NASA,” she added. “It had the sounds of a kiss, a mother saying hello to her newborn baby for great things—to not take things at face value and to look at evidence to search for the first time, all that glorious music. Remember, this was during the Cold War. the truth. It’s something that I look to as a beacon.” Everyone was living with the knowledge that 50,000 nuclear weapons could go off Sagan said that he and his father discussed the Voyager discoveries in the context at any time, and there was a lot of angst about the future. This was something posi- of their search for life. They got excited when the spacecraft photographed Titan and tive—a way to represent Earth and put our best foot forward. That was irresistible.” Europa, and Sagan noted a change in his father as the years went by. Sagan’s son Nick was 6 years old in 1977, when the Voyager records were being “One of the things that surprised him was that we didn’t find life during his life- assembled. The records feature a recording of him as a child saying, “Hello from the time,” he said. “He started to realize that if there’s no other life out there, and life is children of planet Earth.” so rare, we need to protect ours. I saw a shift in him. That’s when he started to be- “I had no sense of the magnitude of it at the time,” said , who partially come more socially and politically conscious.” followed in his late father’s footsteps by pursuing a career as a In the end, Sagan believes that Voyager and other extraterrestrial missions are writer. “Literally, it was my parents putting me in front of a microphone and saying, important because of their process rather than their discoveries. ‘What would you say to extraterrestrials?’” “The question is: What’s it all about?” he said. “If we do find life it will change us, Sagan said he began to realize what the record meant as he got older, and as a but if not it will change things also. The act of looking will tell us so much, and we teen he started to realize what a “strange but wonderful honor” it was. will learn so much about ourselves.” “It’s been a challenge for the rest of my life to live up to that honor. It’s always Voyager is expected to return data for at least 15 more years. there in my subconscious,” he said. “My dad inspired so many people to do so many

JPL/Caltech float in the works for Rose Parade By Mark Whalen

The JPL/Caltech float for the 2008 of the solar panels of the spacecraft Tournament of Roses Parade, known as nearest Explorer is displayed a floral “50 Years of ,” will be photographic representation of Wil- on display at a float test day to be held liam Pickering, and Saturday, Sept. 15, at Phoenix Decorat- , whose vision ig- ing Company’s Pasadena construction nited the spark for that mission, Amer- facility. ica’s first satellite, which launched in The event will be held from 6:30 to 1958. Each of the planets visited by 8:30 a.m. at the Rose Palace, 835 S. JPL spacecraft are included on the Raymond Ave., between California Bou- float. Also featured will be a future levard and Glenarm Street. The float mission, , a test will be held at approximately 7 a.m. rover that will be launched in 2009. Parking will be available on neighboring The new float marks the second streets. Coffee and doughnuts will be time in four years that JPL and served. Caltech will jointly sponsor a Rose Tickets to the event are available at the Parade float. Phoenix also constructed JPL Store through Monday, Sept. 10. the 2005 JPL/Caltech entry, “Family The 2008 float—standing 25 feet high, of Explorers.” 18 feet wide and 55 feet long—features For more information on the float as its centerpiece. On one builder, visit http://www.phxdeco.com.

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