BajaNomad

Voyager I and II, the Little Spacecraft That Could

GypsyJan - 7-8-2018 at 08:36 PM

My mother was, literally, a rocket scientist. She worked on the Apollo project, the space shuttle and Voyager I and II.

It makes me happy that a little bit of her is still traveling, thirteen billion miles away.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-the-little-spacecraf...

David K - 7-8-2018 at 10:01 PM

Cool. I wonder if she knew Mike Humfreville who was doing work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory?

Maybe, She Was Always Going to JPL for Meetings

GypsyJan - 7-8-2018 at 10:20 PM

But I was too young at the time, and don't remember the names of her mentors and co-workers.

V6G3B7 - 7-10-2018 at 12:14 PM

Great find, Jan. Thanks for posting. I am fascinated that 40-year old technology / computer power / energy source continues to work. All the while sending a distant electronic signal back to earth no stronger than a refrigerator light bulb. I'm so into this that I poked around a bit more to understand Radioisotrope Power Systems ... I never knew.

Then I found a link to an app / software called NASA's Eyes that lets you explore all sorts of missions in 3-D on your computer. I installed it without any problems and is a really cool way to explore the universe.

Lastly, to get a feel for the scale of mankind in relation to really big things and really small things, check out this interactive webpage ... Scale of the Universe.

[Edited on 7-10-2018 by V6G3B7]

You are Very Welcome

GypsyJan - 7-11-2018 at 10:23 PM

And thank you for the kind comments and links.

When I was a child, my mother brought home boxes of data cards (Does anyone remember those?) that I helped her organize.

She always told me to study computer science at college and being a typical rebellious teenager, I chose other majors.

Somewhere, out there in the universe, she is laughing at the fact I spend hours a day on the computer.