Voyager Spacecraft: Enduring Ambition

"The stars call to those brave enough to listen."

In 1977, workers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory built two Voyager spacecraft with aluminum, titanium, and ambition to explore the distant reaches of our solar system.

Inside Building 230, technicians monitor refrigerator-sized IBM mainframes and rows of phones to track the two travelers in the dark void of space.

The machines record scientific findings on a digital 8-track tape machine before writing over the magnetic surface to save storage for new secrets.

Modern Orion circuitry for the Artemis mission utilizes gigabit ethernet and processing power 20,000 times faster than the equipment used during the Apollo lunar landings.

Peeling back the layers

Each craft contains three computer systems with 69.63 kilobytes of memory to handle the logic required for flight and communication across the galaxy.

NASA included redundant components to ensure the mission continued if a primary part failed during the flight through the stars.

Counter-narrative

While modern chips offer extreme speed, the simple circuitry of the 1977 designs resists the destructive effects of cosmic radiation in interstellar space.

Did you notice

• The hydrazine fuel travels through lines kept warm by tiny heaters to prevent freezing in the shadows.
• Gold leaf covers the exterior of the instruments to reflect the heat from the sun.
• The plutonium power source creates warmth for the electronics as it decays over the decades.
• The craft sends an approximate 23-watt signal that eventually reaches the massive 70-meter dishes on the ground.

Radiation Shields And The Strength Of Vintage Circuits

The large transistors on the original boards help prevent errors from the particles found in the vacuum. According to the Smithsonian Institution, the physical distance between the gates on the 1977 circuitry blocks the interference from high-energy cosmic rays.

The absence of a modern operating system improves the stability of the flight software. NASA archives indicate that the assembly code interacts directly with the hardware to eliminate the errors found in complex software layers.

When the plutonium fuel finally disappears from the generators, JPL scientists estimate that the internal heat will drop until the craft can no longer power the instruments.

Hidden Hands Crafting The Path Toward Infinite Horizons

The Deep Space Network uses 70-meter antennas in Spain, Australia, and California to catch the faint radio signals from the edge of the galaxy.

Ground teams study the original engineering manuals from 1977 to troubleshoot the hardware because the original architects have retired from the agency.

The 23-watt signal travels through the vacuum for approximately 22 hours before reaching the receivers on the surface of our planet.