who launched the voyager program

• Become A Member
• Gift Membership
• Kids Membership
• Other Ways to Give
• Explore Worlds
• Defend Earth

How We Work

• Education & Public Outreach
• Space Policy & Advocacy
• Science & Technology
• Global Collaboration

Our Results

Learn how our members and community are changing the worlds.

Our citizen-funded spacecraft successfully demonstrated solar sailing for CubeSats.

Space Topics

• Planets & Other Worlds
• Space Missions
• Space Policy
• Planetary Radio
• Space Images

The Planetary Report

The eclipse issue.

Science and splendor under the shadow.

Get Involved

Membership programs for explorers of all ages.

Get updates and weekly tools to learn, share, and advocate for space exploration.

Volunteer as a space advocate.

Support Our Mission

• Renew Membership
• Society Projects

The Planetary Fund

Accelerate progress in our three core enterprises — Explore Worlds, Find Life, and Defend Earth. You can support the entire fund, or designate a core enterprise of your choice.

• Strategic Framework
• News & Press

The Planetary Society

Know the cosmos and our place within it.

Our Mission

Empowering the world's citizens to advance space science and exploration.

• Explore Space
• Take Action
• Member Community
• Account Center
• “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

The Voyager missions

Highlights Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 launched in 1977 and made a grand tour of the solar system's outer planets. They are the only functioning spacecraft in interstellar space, and they are still sending back measurements of the interstellar medium. Each spacecraft carries a copy of the golden record, a missive from Earth to any alien lifeforms that may find the probes in the future.

What are the Voyager missions?

The Voyager program consists of two spacecraft: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Voyager 2 was actually launched first, in August 1977, but Voyager 1 was sent on a faster trajectory when it launched about two weeks later. They are the only two functioning spacecraft currently in interstellar space, beyond the environment controlled by the sun.

Voyager 2’s path took it past Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981, Uranus in 1985, and Neptune in 1989. It is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus or Neptune, and has provided much of the information that we use to characterize them now.

Because of its higher speed and more direct trajectory, Voyager 1 overtook Voyager 2 just a few months after they launched. It visited Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980. It overtook Pioneer 10 — the only other spacecraft in interstellar space thus far — in 1998 and is now the most distant artificial object from Earth.

How the Voyagers work

The two spacecraft are identical, each with a radio dish 3.7 meters (12 feet) across to transmit data back to Earth and a set of 16 thrusters to control their orientations and point their dishes toward Earth. The thrusters run on hydrazine fuel, but the electronic components of each spacecraft are powered by thermoelectric generators that run on plutonium. Each carries 11 scientific instruments, about half of which were designed just for observing planets and have now been shut off. The instruments that are now off include several cameras and spectrometers to examine the planets, as well as two radio-based experiments. Voyager 2 now has five functioning instruments: a magnetometer, a spectrometer designed to investigate plasmas, an instrument to measure low-energy charged particles and one for cosmic rays, and one that measures plasma waves. Voyager 1 only has four of those, as its plasma spectrometer is broken.

Jupiter findings

Over the course of their grand tours of the solar system, the Voyagers took tens of thousands of images and measurements that significantly changed our understanding of the outer planets.

At Jupiter, they gave us our first detailed ideas of how the planet’s atmosphere moves and evolves, showing that the Great Red Spot was a counter-clockwise rotating storm that interacted with other, smaller storms. They were also the first missions to spot a faint, dusty ring around Jupiter. Finally, they observed some of Jupiter’s moons, discovering Io’s volcanism, finding the linear features on Europa that were among the first hints that it might have an ocean beneath its surface, and granting Ganymede the title of largest moon in the solar system, a superlative that was previously thought to belong to Saturn’s moon Titan.

Saturn findings

Next, each spacecraft flew past Saturn, where they measured the composition and structure of Saturn’s atmosphere , and Voyager 1 also peered into Titan’s thick haze. Its observations led to the idea that Titan might have liquid hydrocarbons on its surface, a hypothesis that has since been verified by other missions. When the two missions observed Saturn’s rings, they found the gaps and waves that are well-known today. Voyager 1 also spotted three previously-unknown moons orbiting Saturn: Atlas, Prometheus, and Pandora.

Uranus and Neptune findings

After this, Voyager 1 headed out of the solar system, while Voyager 2 headed toward Uranus . There, it found 11 previously-unknown moons and two previously-unknown rings. Many of the phenomena it observed on Uranus remained unexplained, such as its unusual magnetic field and an unexpected lack of major temperature changes at different latitudes.

Voyager 2’s final stop, 12 years after it left Earth, was Neptune. When it arrived , it continued its streak of finding new moons with another haul of 6 small satellites, as well as finding rings around Neptune. As it did at Uranus, it observed the planet’s composition and magnetic field. It also found volcanic vents on Neptune’s huge moon Triton before it joined Voyager 1 on the way to interstellar space.

Interstellar space

Interstellar space begins at the heliopause, where the solar wind – a flow of charged particles released by the sun – is too weak to continue pushing against the interstellar medium, and the pressure from the two balances out. Voyager 1 officially entered interstellar space in August 2012, and Voyager 2 joined it  in November 2018.

These exits were instrumental in enabling astronomers to determine where exactly the edge of interstellar space is, something that’s difficult to measure from within the solar system. They showed that interstellar space begins just over 18 billion kilometers (about 11 billion miles) from the sun. The spacecraft continue to send back data on the structure of the interstellar medium.

After its planetary encounters, Voyager 1 took the iconic “Pale Blue Dot” image , showing Earth from about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) away. As of 2021 , Voyager 1 is about 155 astronomical units (14.4 billion miles) from Earth, and Voyager 2 is nearly 129 astronomical units (12 billion miles) away.

The golden records

Each Voyager spacecraft has a golden phonograph record affixed to its side, intended as time capsules from Earth to any extraterrestrial life that might find the probes sometime in the distant future. They are inscribed with a message from Jimmy Carter, the U.S. President at the time of launch, which reads: “This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours.”

The covers of the records have several images inscribed, including visual instructions on how to play them, a map of our solar system’s location with respect to a set of 14 pulsars, and a drawing of a hydrogen atom. They are plated with uranium – its rate of decay will allow any future discoverers of either of the records to calculate when they were created.

The records’ contents were selected by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan. Each contains 115 images, including scientific diagrams of the solar system and its planets, the flora and fauna of Earth, and examples of human culture. There are natural sounds, including breaking surf and birdsong, spoken greetings in 55 languages, an hour of brainwave recordings, and an eclectic selection of music ranging from Beethoven to Chuck Berry to a variety of folk music.

Learn more Voyager Mission Status Bulletin Archives Experience A Message From Earth - Inspired by the Voyager Golden Record Neptune, planet of wind and ice

Support missions like Voyager 1 and 2

Whether it's advocating, teaching, inspiring, or learning, you can do something for space, right now. Let's get to work.

For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser .

Voyager, NASA’s Longest-Lived Mission, Logs 45 Years in Space

This archival image taken at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on March 23, 1977, shows engineers preparing the Voyager 2 spacecraft ahead of its launch later that year.

Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager probes are NASA’s longest-operating mission and the only spacecraft ever to explore interstellar space.

NASA’s twin Voyager probes have become, in some ways, time capsules of their era: They each carry an eight-track tape player for recording data, they have about 3 million times less memory than modern cellphones, and they transmit data about 38,000 times slower than a 5G internet connection.

Yet the Voyagers remain on the cutting edge of space exploration. Managed and operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, they are the only probes to ever explore interstellar space – the galactic ocean that our Sun and its planets travel through.

The Sun and the planets reside in the heliosphere, a protective bubble created by the Sun’s magnetic field and the outward flow of solar wind (charged particles from the Sun). Researchers – some of them younger than the two distant spacecraft – are combining Voyager’s observations with data from newer missions to get a more complete picture of our Sun and how the heliosphere interacts with interstellar space.

NASA’s Solar System Interactive lets users see where the Voyagers are right now relative to the planets, the Sun, and other spacecraft. View it yourself here . Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

“The heliophysics mission fleet provides invaluable insights into our Sun, from understanding the corona or the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere, to examining the Sun’s impacts throughout the solar system, including here on Earth, in our atmosphere, and on into interstellar space,” said Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Over the last 45 years, the Voyager missions have been integral in providing this knowledge and have helped change our understanding of the Sun and its influence in ways no other spacecraft can.”

The Voyagers are also ambassadors, each carrying a golden record containing images of life on Earth, diagrams of basic scientific principles, and audio that includes sounds from nature, greetings in multiple languages, and music. The gold-coated records serve as a cosmic “message in a bottle” for anyone who might encounter the space probes. At the rate gold decays in space and is eroded by cosmic radiation, the records will last more than a billion years.

45 Years of Voyager I and II

Launched in 1977, NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft inspired the world with pioneering visits to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Their journey continues 45 years later as both probes explore interstellar space, the region outside the protective heliosphere created by our Sun. Researchers – some younger than the spacecraft – are now using Voyager data to solve mysteries of our solar system and beyond.

This archival photo shows engineers working on vibration acoustics and pyro shock testing of NASA’s Voyager on Nov. 18, 1976. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Voyager 1 acquired this image of a volcanic explosion on Io on March 4, 1979, about 11 hours before the spacecraft’s closest approach to the moon of Jupiter.

Neptune’s green-blue atmosphere was shown in greater detail than ever before in this image from NASA’s Voyager 2 as the spacecraft rapidly approached its encounter with the giant planet in August 1989.

This updated version of the iconic "Pale Blue Dot" image taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft uses modern image-processing software and techniques to revisit the well-known Voyager view while attempting to respect the original data and intent of those who planned the images.

This illustrated graphic was made to mark Voyager 1’s entry into interstellar space in 2012. It puts solar system distances in perspective, with the scale bar in astronomical units and each set distance beyond 1 AU (the average distance between the Sun and Earth) representing 10 times the previous distance.

This graphic highlights some of the Voyager mission’s key accomplishments. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Full image details

This graphic provides some of the mission’s key statistics from 2018, when NASA’s Voyager 2 probe exited the heliosphere. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Full image details

Beyond Expectations

Voyager 2 launched on Aug. 20, 1977, quickly followed by Voyager 1 on Sept. 5. Both probes traveled to Jupiter and Saturn, with Voyager 1 moving faster and reaching them first. Together, the probes unveiled much about the solar system’s two largest planets and their moons. Voyager 2 also became the first and only spacecraft to fly close to Uranus (in 1986) and Neptune (in 1989), offering humanity remarkable views of – and insights into – these distant worlds.

While Voyager 2 was conducting these flybys, Voyager 1 headed toward the boundary of the heliosphere. Upon exiting it in 2012 , Voyager 1 discovered that the heliosphere blocks 70% of cosmic rays, or energetic particles created by exploding stars. Voyager 2, after completing its planetary explorations, continued to the heliosphere boundary, exiting in 2018 . The twin spacecraft’s combined data from this region has challenged previous theories about the exact shape of the heliosphere.

Voyager 1 and 2 have accomplished a lot since they launched in 1977. This infographic highlights the mission’s major milestones, including visiting the four outer planets and exiting the heliosphere, or the protective bubble of magnetic fields and particles created by the Sun.

“Today, as both Voyagers explore interstellar space, they are providing humanity with observations of uncharted territory,” said Linda Spilker, Voyager’s deputy project scientist at JPL. “This is the first time we’ve been able to directly study how a star, our Sun, interacts with the particles and magnetic fields outside our heliosphere, helping scientists understand the local neighborhood between the stars, upending some of the theories about this region, and providing key information for future missions.”

The Long Journey

Over the years, the Voyager team has grown accustomed to surmounting challenges that come with operating such mature spacecraft, sometimes calling upon retired colleagues for their expertise or digging through documents written decades ago.

Each Voyager is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator containing plutonium, which gives off heat that is converted to electricity. As the plutonium decays, the heat output decreases and the Voyagers lose electricity. To compensate , the team turned off all nonessential systems and some once considered essential, including heaters that protect the still-operating instruments from the frigid temperatures of space. All five of the instruments that have had their heaters turned off since 2019 are still working, despite being well below the lowest temperatures they were ever tested at.

Get the Latest JPL News

Recently, Voyager 1 began experiencing an issue that caused status information about one of its onboard systems to become garbled. Despite this, the system and spacecraft otherwise continue to operate normally, suggesting the problem is with the production of the status data, not the system itself. The probe is still sending back science observations while the engineering team tries to fix the problem or find a way to work around it.

“The Voyagers have continued to make amazing discoveries, inspiring a new generation of scientists and engineers,” said Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager at JPL. “We don’t know how long the mission will continue, but we can be sure that the spacecraft will provide even more scientific surprises as they travel farther away from the Earth.”

More About the Mission

A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL built and operates the Voyager spacecraft. The Voyager missions are a part of the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/voyager

News Media Contact

Calla Cofield

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

626-808-2469

[email protected]

• Interact with NASA APPEL on LinkedIn
• Interact with NASA APPEL on Twitter
• Interact with NASA APPEL on Facebook
• View NASA APPEL Images on Flickr
• View NASA APPEL Videos on YouTube
• Subscribe to NASA APPEL's RSS Feed

Subscribe to INSIGHT

Expanding perspectives every month.

• Curated Curricula
• Competency Models
• Development Frameworks
• Maximize Your Learning Experience
• Systems Engineering Leadership Program (SELP)
• Accreditations & Affiliations
• Defense Acquisition University
• Course Support
• Registration Overview
• Virtual Backgrounds
• INSIGHT Publication
• Apollo Era Resources
• Case Studies
• Knowledge Capture and Transfer
• Knowledge Sharing Tools
• NASA Knowledge Community
• Shuttle Era Resources
• Spotlight on Lessons Learned Series
• Lessons Learned Lifecycle and Highlights
• Lessons Learned Bot
• Project Management Courses
• Program Management Series
• NPR 7120.5 Revision F Rollout Briefing (NASA Only)
• NPR 7120.5 Tailoring Resources
• NASA FAC-P/PM Certification Program
• Office of the Chief Engineer Handbooks
• Relevant Documents
• Affiliations
• Small Steps, Giant Leaps Podcast
• Quick Webinars
• On-Demand Courses
• Project Knowledge Expo
• NASA Knowledge on Video
• Knowledge Inventory
• Technical Authority

This Month in NASA History: Voyager, the Path Forward—Then and Now

Artist’s drawing of the Voyager 1 spacecraft, which launched on September 5, 1977. Photo Credit: NASA

September 27, 2012 Vol. 5, Issue 9

Thirty-five years after the Voyager program started, the twin spacecraft have surpassed all expectations.

The Voyager program began with a specific mission: to explore Jupiter and Saturn using two identical spacecraft. Not only did the program foster groundbreaking scientific understanding of Jupiter and Saturn, it did the same for Uranus and Neptune, giving scientists a new perspective on the solar system. But the best may lie ahead: within the next decade, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are expected to be the first spacecraft to broach interstellar space.

How did the program—initially designed to last five years—end up accomplishing so much? Along with careful planning and ongoing improvements, Voyager benefitted from a critical but unreliable element.

“Luck!” said Edward Stone, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Voyager project scientist, at the recent JPL-sponsored 35th anniversary celebration of the Voyager mission. “There’s a lot of luck in this business.”

The program’s luck began in 1965 when Gary Flandro, a Caltech grad student working at NASA for the summer, figured out that a spacecraft launched in 1977 could capitalize on a rare planetary alignment that occurs once roughly every 175 years. This alignment would enable the spacecraft to fly by all four outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—using a gravity-assist technique to swing from planet to planet, picking up speed to continue forward. This approach would reduce the flight time to Neptune from the 30 years it would normally take to 12 years, and obviate the need for large onboard propellant systems.

The Voyager program was determined to take advantage of this rare planetary arrangement. But choosing the best path to follow wasn’t easy. More than 10,000 possible trajectories were considered. The key problem was timing: the selected trajectory had to aim Voyager at a spot where Jupiter was expected to be in the future. Reaching Jupiter at the right moment would allow the spacecraft to use a gravitational slingshot—leveraging Jupiter’s powerful gravitational field—to power its journey on to Saturn.

Stone explained, “If we had not flown by Jupiter, we would not have been able to get to Saturn. It was only by flying by Jupiter and getting Jupiter’s slingshot that we managed to make it to Saturn. And Saturn gave us another slingshot. The amount of energy you get from a slingshot has to do with how you fly by a planet and the closer you fly by. Basically, Voyager was able to fly very close to these planets and get really big boosts along the way.”

Flying close to the large planets was not without risk. So while Voyager 1 was directed to pass very near to Jupiter and then on to Saturn, Voyager 2 was given a different trajectory. It would also approach Jupiter, but at a greater distance from the planet’s gravitational field and radiation belts. This way, if Voyager 1 were harmed by its close proximity to the planet, Voyager 2 could continue the joint mission on toward Saturn.

But Voyager 1 was successful. So successful, in fact, that Voyager 2 was able to extend its mission in another direction, using gravity-assist aiming points to explore Uranus and Neptune as well.

Voyager 1 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on September 5, 1977. It reached Jupiter a year and a half later, on March 5, 1979, and then Saturn on November 12, 1980. After completing its mission to explore the two planets, their larger moons, and Saturn’s rings, Voyager 1’s trajectory sent it northward beyond the planetary orbital plane. The spacecraft began returning information about interplanetary space.

Voyager 2, which launched earlier than Voyager 1—on August 20, 1977—followed a longer trajectory. The spacecraft encountered Jupiter on July 9, 1979, and Saturn on August 25, 1981. It went on to explore the remaining gas giants, reaching Uranus on January 24, 1986 and Neptune on August 25, 1989. Voyager 2 then began following a path southward into interplanetary space.

A new mission was born: to penetrate interstellar space so scientists could learn more about interstellar fields, particles, and waves. This mission was made possible by technological improvements both on the ground and on the Voyagers themselves. The antennae were extended and software improved. Non-essential functions were shut down to preserve energy and computer capacity. This wasn’t only critical for the interstellar mission; it enabled the extended Voyager 2 planetary mission as well. “If we had done nothing to the spacecraft and nothing on the ground, we could not have returned a single image from Neptune,” said Stone.

Because their original mission took them far from the sun, the spacecraft are not solar powered. Instead, they possess radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) that power onboard systems and instruments. As power decays, systems are turned off. The Voyagers return information to Earth through the Deep Space Network (DSN).

Both Voyagers are now on trajectories that will eventually take them out of the solar atmosphere—called the heliosphere—into interstellar space. The heliosphere, governed by the sun’s magnetic field, is filled with particles (mainly ionized hydrogen) that flow from the sun. This high-speed flow of particles is known as solar wind. Interstellar space is a different realm entirely, containing particles from exploded supernovae as well as wind and cosmic rays generated by the explosions.

In 2004, Voyager 1—which travels at a rate of a billion miles every three years—crossed the “termination shock”: the point at which solar wind slows abruptly from supersonic to subsonic speeds. Voyager 2 crossed over in 2007. Both are now in the heliosheath. While still controlled by the sun’s magnetic field, in this area solar winds begin to mix with interstellar gases. Voyager 1 is now 11.3 billion miles from Earth. Voyager 2 is 9.3 billion miles away. The spacecraft are expected to leave the heliosphere within 10 to 20 years of crossing the termination shock.

Timing is critical. The spacecraft have enough power to operate systems until 2020. At that point, instruments will be turned off one by one until the last is shut down in 2025. After that, scientists will be unable to learn anything more about interstellar space from Voyager. But the spacecraft themselves will continue to travel out into the galaxy.

View images from the Voyager mission.

About the Author

The Academy invites you to continue sharing stories and lessons by suggesting topics or projects the APPEL News team should cover. Contact us to submit your story suggestions.

Share With Your Colleagues

Recommended.

• Brandon Kapelow
• Brent Foster
• Caitlyn Greene
• Charles Frank
• Chrris Lowe
• Christopher Nataanii Cegielski
• Marcus Tortorici

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."

- carl sagan.

In 1977, another time rife with conflict and uncertainty, NASA launched the Voyager space program with a mission to study Jupiter and Saturn. But beyond that, it was meant to engender more - each craft included a Golden Record, carrying with them to the stars the very best humanity had to offer. Upon completion of their initial objectives, the Voyager probes were left to the mercy of the cosmos, to eventually break down or end in oblivion. Against all odds, they are still out there to this day, journeying deeper and deeper into uncharted, interstellar space - the farthest-reaching artifacts of mankind in the universe.

We’ve taken the same name as the storied space program because we believe in what it represents - a reckless and wholehearted pursuit of wonder and exploration; as much about reminding ourselves of our own humanity as it is about our need to get our stories out there. We strive to produce work that is impactful beyond its purpose. Our mission is to connect the dots.

COLLABORATORS

RECOGNITION

Advertisement

How Voyager Works

• Share Content on Facebook
• Share Content on LinkedIn
• Share Content on Flipboard
• Share Content on Reddit
• Share Content via Email

At this moment, two spacecraft that were launched from Earth in 1977 hurtle through space at more than 30,000 mph (48,280 km/h). They are both several billion miles away, farther from Earth than any other man-made object. On Aug. 25, 2012, one of them crossed into interstellar space, making the first spacecraft to leave the solar system

Voyager 1 and 2 carry coded messages to potential alien civilizations. They have already taught scientists a great deal about the heliosheath , the outermost layer of the solar system. But none of this is even what they were designed for.

The Voyager spacecrafts were built to fly past the outer planets ( Jupiter , Saturn , Neptune and Uranus ) and study them closely, the first time in human history they'd been observed up close. The spacecraft succeeded magnificently, advancing planetary science by vast leaps. It was only after they’d accomplished their primary mission that they continued on to become Earth’s most far-ranging explorers.

Yet it was a matter of extremely good luck and timing that the missions were possible at all -- and an equal stroke of bad luck that almost scuttled the Voyager project before it ever left the ground. These ambitious missions were the product of new advances in the science and math of orbital trajectories, but they were almost cast by the wayside in favor of the expensive space shuttle program. Virtually every unmanned space mission undertaken today relies on knowledge and experience gained by the Voyagers.

We’ll take a close look at the ungainly Voyager space probes and all the technical equipment they carry on board. We’ll trace their trajectory from the development stages to their ultimate fate light years away from Earth. There will be stops at the largest planets in our solar system along the way. And if you’re wondering what's on the golden records each Voyager carries as messages for alien life forms, we’ll give them a spin. Will any aliens ever find them?

Voyager 1 and 2: The Grand Tour

Voyager equipment, to neptune and beyond, voyager golden record.

The 1970s were a transitional period for the U.S. space effort. The Apollo program was coming to a close, and NASA was trying to figure out what form manned spaceflight would take. The Mariner missions expanded our knowledge of the inner planets by sending space probes to fly past (and in some cases orbit) Mars , Venus and Mercury . There were tentative plans to send a Mariner mission to visit some of the outer planets, but using chemical rocket propulsion, such a trip would take 15 years or more.

At the same time, important advances were being made in the science of gravity-assisted orbital trajectories . While the math and physics involved are pretty complicated, the basic idea is that a spacecraft can use the gravity of a nearby planet to give it a large boost in velocity as long as the spacecraft follows the proper orbit. The higher the mass of the planet, the stronger the gravitational force, and the bigger the boost. That meant that once a space probe reached Jupiter (the most massive planet in our solar system ), it could use Jupiter’s gravity like a slingshot and head out to explore the more distant planets.

In 1965, an engineer named Gary Flandro noticed that in the mid-1970s, the outer planets would be aligned in such a way as to make it possible for a spacecraft to visit them all using a series of gravity-assisted boosts [source: Evans ]. This particular alignment wasn't just a once-in-a-lifetime event -- it wouldn't occur again for another 176 years. It was an amazing coincidence that the technical ability to accomplish such a mission was developed a few years before the planets lined up to allow it.

Initially, the ambitious project, known as the Grand Tour, would have sent a series of probes to visit all the outer planets. In 1972, however, budget projections for the project were approaching $900 million, and NASA was planning development of the space shuttle [source: Evans ]. With the immense shuttle development costs looming, the Grand Tour was cancelled and replaced with a more modest mission profile. This would be an extension of the Mariner program, referred to as the Mariner Jupiter-Saturn mission (MJS) . Based on the Mariner platform and improved with knowledge gained from Pioneer 10’s 1973 fly-by of Jupiter, the new probes eventually took the name Voyager. Design was completed in 1977. Optimistic NASA engineers thought they might be able to use gravity-assisted trajectories to reach Uranus and Neptune if the initial mission to visit Jupiter and Saturn (and some of their moons) was completed successfully. The idea of the Grand Tour flickered back to life.

The final Voyager mission plan looked like this: Two spacecraft (Voyager 1 and Voyager 2) would be launched a few weeks apart. Voyager 1 would fly past Jupiter and several of Jupiter’s moons from a relatively close distance, scanning and taking photos. Voyager 2 would also fly past Jupiter, but at a more conservative distance. If all went well, both probes would be catapulted toward Saturn by Jupiter’s gravity. Voyager 1 would then investigate Saturn, specifically the rings, as well as the moon Titan. At that point, Voyager 1’s trajectory would take it out of the solar system’s ecliptic (the plane of the planets’ orbits), away from all other planets, and eventually out of the solar system itself.

Meanwhile, Voyager 2 would visit Saturn and several of Saturn’s moons. If it was still functioning properly when that was completed, it would be boosted by Saturn’s gravity to visit Uranus and Neptune before also leaving the ecliptic and exiting the solar system. This was considered a long shot, but amazingly, everything worked as planned.

Next, what kind of hardware did the Voyagers carry into space?

Voyager 2 launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on board a Titan-Centaur rocket on Aug. 20, 1977. Voyager 1 launched on Sept. 5, 1977. Why is the numbering reversed? Once en route to the outer planets, Voyager 1 passed by Voyager 2 and reached Jupiter first. NASA thought the public would be confused if Voyager 2 started reporting back first, so the numbering doesn't follow the launch order.

Both Voyager spacecraft are identical. They don't have a sleek, aerodynamic design because there's no aerodynamic friction in space to worry about. Weighing 1,592 pounds (722 kilograms), they're made up of a main bus, a high-gain antenna, three booms that held scientific instruments and the power supply, and two other antennae.

The main bus is the body of the Voyager. It's a 10-sided box 5.9 feet (1.8 meters) across, and it contains some scientific instruments, electronics and a fuel tank for the rocket thrusters. The thrusters are used to reorient the craft as it moves through space.

Mounted on top of the main bus, the high-gain antenna is 12 feet (3.7 meters) across and looks like a satellite dish. This antenna is how the Voyagers receive commands from Earth and send the data they gather back. No matter where a Voyager spacecraft flies, the high-gain antenna always points toward Earth.

One of the booms extending off of the main bus carries Voyager’s radioisotope thermoelectric power supply . Pellets of plutonium dioxide release heat through natural decay. This heat is converted into electricity using a series of thermocouples. Although the power output isn't very strong, it powers the electronics and instruments on board the Voyagers for a very long time. Power isn't expected to deplete completely until 2020. The power supply was placed on a boom to keep the radiation from interfering with the other scientific instruments.

The other two booms carry a series of instruments. These include:

• Magnetometer
• Cosmic ray detector
• Plasma detector
• Photopolarimeter
• Infrared interferometer
• Spectrometer
• Ultraviolet spectrometer
• Low energy charged particle detector
• Plasma wave detector

[source: Evans, Dethloff & Schorn ]

Perhaps the most significant instruments on board the Voyagers, as far as the public is concerned, are the cameras. Also mounted on the instrument boom, the cameras have a resolution of 800x800, with both wide-angle and narrow-field versions. The cameras returned unprecedented photos of the outer planets and gave us views of our solar system that we had never before witnessed (including the famous departure shot showing both Earth and Earth’s moon in the same frame). The boom carrying the cameras could be moved independently from the rest of the craft.

The Voyager’s computer system was very impressive as well. Knowing the craft would be on its own much of the time, with the lag between command and response from Earth growing longer the farther the craft went into space, engineers developed a self-repairing computer system . The computer has multiple modules that compare the data they receive and the output instructions they decide on. If one module differs from the others, it's assumed to be faulty and is eliminated from the system, replaced by one of the backup modules. It was tested shortly after launch, when a delay in boom deployment was misread as a malfunction. The problem was corrected successfully.

In the next section, we’ll find out what we learned from the Voyager missions.

While the Voyagers themselves did all the data gathering, there were important mission elements on the ground as well. The Voyagers’ signals became increasingly difficult to detect as they flew out into the outer solar system, so NASA improved a worldwide network of radio receiving stations to better detect them. A series of 230-foot (70-meter) radio dishes pull in the Voyager data and send signals out to it, maintaining almost continuous communication [source: Evans ].

Although the lifetime mission cost for Voyager exceeded $750 million, by 1989 the spacecrafts had returned enough scientific data to fill 6,000 editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica [source: Evans ]. The science modules on board were chosen from proposals submitted by research teams across the United States. The information about Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus and Neptune (and many of their moons) that we learned from the Voyager missions wasn't just vast in quantity, but also in influence. It shaped science textbooks in schools across the U.S., informed public perceptions of the solar system and laid the foundation for the modern space program. Much of what we know about the outer planets came from Voyager. That’s not to mention the thousands of photographs taken from vantage points humans had never experienced before. Those brilliant images of Jupiter and Saturn fired the public’s imagination and fueled enthusiasm for future space exploration.

From Voyager, we learned more about the weather on Jupiter; the rings around Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus; volcanic activity on Jupiter's moon Io; the masses and densities of Saturn’s moons; the atmospheric pressure on Titan, Saturn's largest moon; the magnetic field of Uranus; and a persistent weather system on Neptune as large as Earth , known as the Great Dark Spot . By the time Voyager 2 reached Neptune, it was 1989. More than 10 years had passed since launch, and many of the scientists working on the original mission had moved on. Voyager had passed by Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus in 1979, 1981 and 1986, respectively.

So where are they now? The two Voyagers aren't together. Voyager 1 is moving north (relative to the orientation of Earth out of the solar system), while Voyager 2 is moving south. In 2007, they both entered the heliosheath, the outermost section of the solar system. There, the solar wind meets interstellar magnetic fields and forms a boundary with a shock wave. The Voyagers traversed the shock wave and sent data back, giving astronomers their first idea of the shape and location of the heliosheath. On Sept. 21, 2013, Voyager scientists reported that Voyager 1 left the solar system on Aug. 25, 2012.

Although some instruments on the Voyagers are no longer working, they do continue to send back important information. Imagine a car that has been on the road continuously since 1977, and you'll get some idea of how amazing these spacecraft are. At their current distance, it takes radio signals traveling at the speed of light more than 14 hours to reach Earth. The craft are running low on fuel for their orienting thrusters and will have to power down some instruments in the coming years as their plutonium runs out as well. By 2020, they will be dark and silent.

Yet they will continue on their current trajectory, moving over 30,000 mph (48,280 km/h), arcing out into the Milky Way for tens of thousands of years. With no atmosphere in space, they will never corrode, and there is little for them to crash into in interstellar space. It will take them about 40,000 years before they even come within light years of another star . The Voyagers may be traveling for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years.

What if the Voyagers meet an intelligent alien civilization some day? We’ve left a message for them.

When NASA realized that the Voyagers would eventually travel beyond the edge of our solar system , they decided it might be a good idea to include some kind of message to any intelligent aliens who might some day find them. A committee headed by astronomer Carl Sagan put these messages together. They're contained on gold-plated copper discs, which are engraved much like a vinyl record album. A portion of the disc contains audio information, including a variety of music, greetings spoken in 55 different languages (including some that are very obscure or long extinct) and a selection of nature sounds. The discs also include 122 images, encoded as vibrations on the disc with instructions for decoding.

On each disc’s cover plate are several symbols that depict the method of playing back the record (a stylus and mounting platter are included as well). The image decoding instructions are revealed, describing the “image start” signal, the aspect ratio of the images, and a reproduction of the first image, so the aliens would know if they got it right. A star map clearly showing the location of Earth completes the picture.

If the aliens wonder how long the Voyager they find has been traveling, they can examine the piece of uranium-238 attached to the main bus near the record. Examining the isotope ratios (assuming they know the half-life of uranium-238), they could then deduce how long the sample had been in space.

What music will the aliens hear when they play the record? Mostly traditional music from a variety of cultures, such as Native Americans chants, Scottish bagpipes and African ritual music. It is also something of a “greatest hits” collection of classical music. The most contemporary songs are “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry and a jazz number by Louis Armstrong.

The images on the record are varied, and include maps of Earth, images of the other planets in our solar system, pictures of various animals and several images of humans. Carl Sagan wrote a book about the record, called "Murmurs of Earth." A companion CD-ROM was released decades later.

The Voyager discs are similar to a plaque that was placed aboard Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, although the creators of the Voyager discs spent a lot of time making sure the aliens could decode it. Many Earth scientists could not decode the information on the Pioneer plaque. At the time, some voiced concerns that any hostile aliens finding the Voyager disc would have a map leading them directly to Earth. However, the Voyagers will spend tens of thousands of years in interstellar space before they are anywhere near another star, so the matter isn’t really an immediate concern. If the discs are ever found, it may be so far in the future that humans no longer exist.

For more interesting articles about space exploration, try the next page.

In "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (the first Star Trek film), much of the plot revolved around a strange electronic life form known as V’Ger. By the end of the film, it is revealed that V’Ger is one of the Voyager space probes (Voyager 6, which never existed in the real world) that has either gained sentience on its own or been given sentience by an alien race. It wants to eradicate all of humanity, but instead evolves into yet another form of life.

Within the fictional Star Trek universe, there is some dispute as to V’Ger’s place in Trek history. Some suggest that V’Ger created the Borg, a cold, logical alien race that would become the primary villains in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Others think the Borg encountered V’Ger, but that the cyborg aliens existed before the chance meeting.

Voyager Space FAQ

What is the temperature of interstellar space, how far away is voyager 2, how far away is voyager 1, do the voyagers have a camera, what is the difference between voyager 1 and 2, lots more information, related articles.

• Are we not the only Earth out there?
• How Lunar Landings Work
• NASA's 10 Greatest Achievements
• How do spacecraft re-enter the Earth?
• How Fixing the Hubble Spacecraft Works
• How Project Mercury Worked
• How Spaceports Will Work
• How Aliens Work

More Great Links

• Voyager Web site
• Evans, Ben. "NASA's Voyager Missions: Exploring the Outer Solar System and Beyond." Springer; 1st ed 2004. 2nd printing edition (April 15, 2008).
• Dethloff, Henry C & Schorn, Ronald A. "Voyager's Grand Tour: To the Outer Planets and Beyond." Smithsonian (March 17, 2003).
• NASA. “Voyager 2 Proves Solar System Is Squashed.” http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article:

AIR & SPACE MAGAZINE

Voyager, still going after all these years.

Low on power and billions of miles from Earth, NASA’s twin spacecraft keep exploring—with a little TLC from home.

Mark Strauss

The twin Voyager spacecraft, NASA’s oldest, most venerable explorers, are still continuously transmitting data back to Earth. Launched in 1977 to study the large outer planets, Voyager 1 and 2 are now, respectively, more than 13 billion and 11 billion miles from Earth, exploring the outer boundary of the heliosphere—a vast magnetic sphere created by the sun that surrounds the solar system. The 42-year-old spacecraft also present immense challenges to those responsible for their care.

Subscribe to Air & Space Magazine Now

This story is a selection from the December/January issue of Air & Space magazine

The data stream from the Voyagers is continuous at a rate of 160 bits per second. (The one exception is that Voyager 1 has the ability to record data from the Plasma Wave Subsystem and transmit it at designated times.) NASA captures the data when one of the antennas in its Deep Space Network is pointed at the spacecraft, about six hours per day for each probe. The data is then transferred from the antenna site to JPL’s central mission control, and then to the project mission support office, which processes the data and makes it available to the science teams.

That data also allows JPL engineers to regularly monitor the spacecrafts’ vital signs. Seeing the health or weakness of the instruments, the engineers improvise creative fixes, working with equipment built for planetary exploration that must now adapt to the needs of an interstellar mission. “It’s repurposing systems to do things they were not designed to do, but can do,” says Dodd.

For instance, the magnetometer (MAG), which was originally designed to measure the magnetic fields of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, is now studying the interaction of the magnetic field of the sun with the magnetic field of interstellar space—and is a crucial instrument for researchers who want to learn more about the shape of the heliosphere. The MAG, though, was designed for planetary magnetic fields, which are much stronger than interstellar ones. “So it takes a lot of analysis and a lot of review to pull a weak signal out of the noise of the instrument,” says Dodd.

In addition to powering the instruments, the generators keep the heaters running. Without heat, the temperature aboard the Voyagers would plummet. While some instruments can function at the subzero temperatures in deep space, the freezing point of the spacecrafts’ propellant is around 34.5 degrees Fahrenheit. If the propellant lines freeze, engineers would no longer be able to use the probes’ thrusters to keep their antennas oriented toward Earth to transmit data. “So for about the last five years, it’s actually been a balance between power and thermal,” says Dodd.

Maintaining that balance plays out differently for each instrument. For instance, Voyagers’ cameras, the Imaging Science Subsystem, were the first to be shut down. Designed to take photos of the outer planets, “there wasn’t any more science you could get out of that instrument,” says Dodd, “and there’s a certain amount of memory space that was freed up that we could then repurpose for this longer Voyager interstellar mission.”

But sometimes the location of an instrument surpasses other concerns. For instance, there’s a digital tape recorder still running on Voyager 1 that would reduce power consumption if it were turned off, says Dodd. Instead, NASA keeps it on because the instrument generates some heat in a particular area of the probe’s central bus that helps keep the propellant lines warm.

Other instruments, such as the Cosmic Ray Subsystem (CRS)—which detects super-energetic particles—sit out on a boom away from the bus and have their own heating units. NASA shut down the CRS’ heater on Voyager 2 this past summer. Despite the extreme cold (minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit), the instrument is still functioning. “We gained two things by turning [the heater] off,” says Dodd. “We gained power...and that extra power also provided extra heat in the bus because it’s not going out to the boom now.”

With the CRS still running, scientists continue to gain valuable data. Cosmic rays are a type of high-energy particles: fragments of atoms created by supernovae outside the solar system and accelerated to nearly the speed of light that bombard Earth from all directions. “The heliosphere is a shield against all those cosmic rays that have speeds less than about 50 percent the speed of light,” says Ed Stone, who has served as project scientist for the Voyager program since 1972.

Despite its success in keeping the Voyagers going, NASA has reached the point where it is one anomaly away from losing the spacecraft. JPL engineers were very concerned when they discovered that the primary attitude thrusters on both spacecraft had degraded. “The way a thruster shows age is it starts to pulse many more times to get the same amount of thrust,” says Dodd. To keep the Voyagers oriented toward Earth to transmit data, the JPL engineers have instead fired up another set of thrusters that were used for trajectory correction maneuvers and haven’t been used since the planetary flybys early in the mission.

“I always tell people, my personal goal is to have a spacecraft that celebrates its 50th anniversary from launch,” says Dodd. With more than a little luck, the Voyagers might make it.

Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Mark Strauss | | READ MORE

Mark Strauss is the Departments Editor at Air & Space magazine.

Voyager Program: Introduction

• Post published: August 31, 2020
• Post category: Space Probes
• Reading time: 3 mins read

Today we will discuss about another exciting space program: Voyager Program. The first part of this series will be an introductory one.

It is an American scientific program that employs two robotic probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The Voyagers now explore the outer boundary of the heliosphere in interstellar space; their mission has been extended three times and they continue to transmit useful scientific data.

Important facts about Voyager Program

• Voyager 2 was the first to be launched. Its trajectory was designed to allow flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
• Voyager 1 was launched after Voyager 2, but along a shorter and faster trajectory that was designed to provide an optimal flyby of Saturn’s moon Titan, which was known to be quite large and to possess a dense atmosphere.
• Neither Uranus nor Neptune has been visited by a probe other than Voyager 2.
• On 25 August 2012, data from Voyager 1 indicated that it had become the first man-made object to enter interstellar space, traveling “further than anyone, or anything, in history”.
• On 5 November 2018, data from Voyager 2 indicated that it also had entered interstellar space.
• There are two phonograph records aboard both Voyager spacecraft, they are called as ‘Voyager Golden Records’. The records contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth, and are intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form who may find them.

Source for all images: NASA

The next article will be an in-depth understanding of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.

Get similar posts via email every Sunday. No Spam!

You might also like.

Voyager Probe: Technical Details

Voyager journey, with animations.

Mariner 10: First Space Probe to Mercury

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Suggested Searches

• Climate Change
• Expedition 64
• Mars perseverance
• SpaceX Crew-2
• International Space Station
• View All Topics A-Z

Humans in Space

Earth & climate, the solar system, the universe, aeronautics, learning resources, news & events.

Join NASA in Celebrating Earth Day 2024 by Sharing a #GlobalSelfie

NASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Change

The Ocean Touches Everything: Celebrate Earth Day with NASA

• Search All NASA Missions
• A to Z List of Missions
• Upcoming Launches and Landings
• Spaceships and Rockets
• Communicating with Missions
• James Webb Space Telescope
• Hubble Space Telescope
• Why Go to Space
• Astronauts Home
• Commercial Space
• Destinations
• Living in Space
• Explore Earth Science
• Earth, Our Planet
• Earth Science in Action
• Earth Multimedia
• Earth Science Researchers
• Pluto & Dwarf Planets
• Asteroids, Comets & Meteors
• The Kuiper Belt
• The Oort Cloud
• Skywatching
• The Search for Life in the Universe
• Black Holes
• The Big Bang
• Dark Energy & Dark Matter
• Earth Science
• Planetary Science
• Astrophysics & Space Science
• The Sun & Heliophysics
• Biological & Physical Sciences
• Lunar Science
• Citizen Science
• Astromaterials
• Aeronautics Research
• Human Space Travel Research
• Science in the Air
• NASA Aircraft
• Flight Innovation
• Supersonic Flight
• Air Traffic Solutions
• Green Aviation Tech
• Drones & You
• Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
• Space Travel Technology
• Technology Living in Space
• Manufacturing and Materials
• Science Instruments
• For Kids and Students
• For Educators
• For Colleges and Universities
• For Professionals
• Science for Everyone
• Requests for Exhibits, Artifacts, or Speakers
• STEM Engagement at NASA
• NASA's Impacts
• Centers and Facilities
• Directorates
• Organizations
• People of NASA
• Internships
• Our History
• Doing Business with NASA
• Get Involved
• Aeronáutica
• Ciencias Terrestres
• Sistema Solar
• All NASA News
• Video Series on NASA+
• Newsletters
• Social Media
• Media Resources
• Upcoming Launches & Landings
• Virtual Events
• Sounds and Ringtones
• Interactives
• STEM Multimedia

Work Underway on Large Cargo Landers for NASA’s Artemis Moon Missions

Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Rover

NASA Open Science Initiative Expands OpenET Across Amazon Basin  

NASA Motion Sickness Study Volunteers Needed!

Students Celebrate Rockets, Environment at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

AI for Earth: How NASA’s Artificial Intelligence and Open Science Efforts Combat Climate Change

Sols 4159-4160: A Fully Loaded First Sol

NASA’s Juno Gives Aerial Views of Mountain, Lava Lake on Io

Hubble Captures a Bright Galactic and Stellar Duo

NASA’s TESS Returns to Science Operations

Astronauts To Patch Up NASA’s NICER Telescope

Hubble Goes Hunting for Small Main Belt Asteroids

NASA’s Near Space Network Enables PACE Climate Mission to ‘Phone Home’

NASA Photographer Honored for Thrilling Inverted In-Flight Image

NASA Langley Team to Study Weather During Eclipse Using Uncrewed Vehicles

ARMD Solicitations

Amendment 10: B.9 Heliophysics Low-Cost Access to Space Final Text and Proposal Due Date.

Tech Today: Taking Earth’s Pulse with NASA Satellites

Earth Day 2024: Posters and Virtual Backgrounds

NASA Names Finalists of the Power to Explore Challenge

Diez maneras en que los estudiantes pueden prepararse para ser astronautas

Astronauta de la NASA Marcos Berríos

Resultados científicos revolucionarios en la estación espacial de 2023

Nasa’s voyager will do more science with new power strategy, jet propulsion laboratory, power to the probes, more about the mission.

The plan will keep Voyager 2’s science instruments turned on a few years longer than previously anticipated, enabling yet more revelations from interstellar space.

Editor’s note: Language was added in the second paragraph on May 1 to underscore that the mission will continue even after a science instrument is retired.

Launched in 1977, the Voyager 2 spacecraft is more than 12 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) from Earth, using five science instruments to study interstellar space. To help keep those instruments operating despite a diminishing power supply, the aging spacecraft has begun using a small reservoir of backup power set aside as part of an onboard safety mechanism. The move will enable the mission to postpone shutting down a science instrument until 2026, rather than this year.

Switching off a science instrument will not end the mission. After shutting off the one instrument in 2026, the probe will continue to operate four science instruments until the declining power supply requires another to be turned off. If Voyager 2 remains healthy, the engineering team anticipates the mission could potentially continue for years to come

Voyager 2 and its twin Voyager 1 are the only spacecraft ever to operate outside the heliosphere, the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields generated by the Sun. The probes are helping scientists answer questions about the shape of the heliosphere and its role in protecting Earth from the energetic particles and other radiation found in the interstellar environment.

“The science data that the Voyagers are returning gets more valuable the farther away from the Sun they go, so we are definitely interested in keeping as many science instruments operating as long as possible,” said Linda Spilker, Voyager’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission for NASA.

Both Voyager probes power themselves with radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which convert heat from decaying plutonium into electricity. The continual decay process means the generator produces slightly less power each year. So far, the declining power supply hasn’t impacted the mission’s science output, but to compensate for the loss, engineers have turned off heaters and other systems that are not essential to keeping the spacecraft flying.

With those options now exhausted on Voyager 2, one of the spacecraft’s five science instruments was next on their list. (Voyager 1 is operating one less science instrument than its twin because an instrument failed early in the mission. As a result, the decision about whether to turn off an instrument on Voyager 1 won’t come until sometime next year.)

In search of a way to avoid shutting down a Voyager 2 science instrument, the team took a closer look at a safety mechanism designed to protect the instruments in case the spacecraft’s voltage – the flow of electricity – changes significantly. Because a fluctuation in voltage could damage the instruments, Voyager is equipped with a voltage regulator that triggers a backup circuit in such an event. The circuit can access a small amount of power from the RTG that’s set aside for this purpose. Instead of reserving that power, the mission will now be using it to keep the science instruments operating.

Although the spacecraft’s voltage will not be tightly regulated as a result, even after more than 45 years in flight, the electrical systems on both probes remain relatively stable, minimizing the need for a safety net. The engineering team is also able to monitor the voltage and respond if it fluctuates too much. If the new approach works well for Voyager 2, the team may implement it on Voyager 1 as well.

“Variable voltages pose a risk to the instruments, but we’ve determined that it’s a small risk, and the alternative offers a big reward of being able to keep the science instruments turned on longer,” said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager’s project manager at JPL. “We’ve been monitoring the spacecraft for a few weeks, and it seems like this new approach is working.”

The Voyager mission was originally scheduled to last only four years, sending both probes past Saturn and Jupiter. NASA extended the mission so that Voyager 2 could visit Neptune and Uranus; it is still the only spacecraft ever to have encountered the ice giants. In 1990, NASA extended the mission again, this time with the goal of sending the probes outside the heliosphere. Voyager 1 reached the boundary in 2012, while Voyager 2 (traveling slower and in a different direction than its twin) reached it in 2018.

A division of Caltech in Pasadena, JPL built and operates the Voyager spacecraft. The Voyager missions are a part of the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/voyager

Calla Cofield Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-808-2469 [email protected]

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

NASA is keeping Voyager 2 going until at least 2026 by tapping into backup power

Emma Bowman

Artist's concept of NASA's Voyager spacecraft. After the Voyager 1 and its replica Voyager 2 launched in 1977, their power sources are slowly dying. NASA/JPL-Caltech hide caption

Artist's concept of NASA's Voyager spacecraft. After the Voyager 1 and its replica Voyager 2 launched in 1977, their power sources are slowly dying.

NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, which has been probing the outer bounds of the solar system for over 45 years, is running out of power. But a new plan aims to keep its interstellar mission alive for at least three more years.

The Voyager 2, first launched in 1977, has been helping scientists investigate faraway planets and understand how the heliosphere — the sun's outermost atmospheric bubble-like layer that traps particles and magnetic fields — protects Earth from its volatile interstellar environment.

With Voyager 2's power supply dwindling, NASA was about to shut down one of its five science instruments onboard the spacecraft. To keep it going, engineers had already sacrificed heaters and other nonessential parts that drained power. But engineers have now found a way to tap reserve power from a safety mechanism that regulates the spacecraft's voltage.

These are the 4 astronauts who'll take a trip around the moon next year

"The move will enable the mission to postpone shutting down a science instrument until 2026, rather than this year," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said this past week.

Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1 (launched the same year), are the only spacecraft to have ventured beyond the heliosphere.

Ed Stone, who was the chief scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab before he retired last year, has spent over half his life dedicated to the Voyager program. He oversaw the spacecrafts churn out one discovery after another as they explored Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

"What it revealed was how complex and dynamic the solar system really is. Before Voyager, the only known active volcanoes were here on Earth," Stone told NPR in 2017 . "Then we flew by Jupiter's moon, Io, and it has 10 times the volcanic activity of earth. Before Voyager, the only known oceans in the solar system were here on Earth. Then we flew by another moon of Jupiter, Europa, which it turns out has a liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust."

Voyager 2 is 12.3 billion miles away from Earth and counting . Voyager 1, also facing an expiration date as it also loses power, is 14.7 billion miles away.

"The science data that the Voyagers are returning gets more valuable the farther away from the Sun they go, so we are definitely interested in keeping as many science instruments operating as long as possible," Linda Spilker, the Voyager program's project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Lab, said in a statement.

NASA, meanwhile, has been working to make sure the Voyagers' legacy doesn't end with a slow fizzle, with officials weighing expensive and complex proposals from several groups for a new, long-term probe.

We finally know why NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft stopped communicating — scientists are working on a fix

The first spacecraft to explore beyond the solar system started spouting gibberish late last year. Now, NASA knows why.

NASA engineers have discovered the cause of a communications breakdown between Earth and the interstellar explorer Voyager 1. It would appear that a small portion of corrupted memory exists in one of the spacecraft's computers. 

The glitch caused Voyager 1 to send unreadable data back to Earth, and is found in the NASA spacecraft's flight data subsystem (FDS). That's the system responsible for packaging the probe's science and engineering data before the telemetry modulation unit (TMU) and radio transmitter send it back to mission control. 

The source of the issue began to reveal itself when Voyager 1 operators sent the spacecraft a "poke" on March 3, 2024. This was intended to prompt FDS to send a full memory readout back to Earth.

The readout confirmed to the NASA team that about 3% of the FDS memory had been corrupted, and that this was preventing the computer from carrying out its normal operations.

Related: NASA finds clue while solving Voyager 1's communication breakdown case

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to leave the solar system and enter interstellar space in 2012. Voyager 2 followed its spacecraft sibling out of the solar system in 2018, and is still operational and communicating well with  Earth.

After 11 years of interstellar exploration, in Nov. 2023, Voyager 1's binary code — the computer language it uses to communicate with Earth — stopped making sense. Its 0's and 1's didn't mean anything anymore.

Get the Space.com Newsletter

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

"Effectively, the call between the spacecraft and the Earth was still connected, but Voyager's 'voice' was replaced with a monotonous dial tone," Voyager 1's engineering team previously  told Space.com .

The team strongly suspects this glitch is the result of a single chip that's responsible for storing part of the affected portion of the FDS memory ceasing to work.

Currently, however, NASA can’t say for sure what exactly caused that particular issue. The chip could have been struck by a high-speed energetic particle from space or, after 46 years serving Voyager 1, it may simply have worn out.

—  Voyager 2: An iconic spacecraft that's still exploring 45 years on

—  NASA's interstellar Voyager probes get software updates beamed from 12 billion miles away

—  NASA Voyager 2 spacecraft extends its interstellar science mission for 3 more years

Voyager 1 currently sits around 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, which means it takes 22.5 hours to receive a radio signal from it — and another 22.5 hours for the spacecraft to receive a response via the Deep Space Network's antennas. Solving this communication issue is thus no mean feat.

Yet, NASA scientists and engineers are optimistic they can find a way to help FDS operate normally, even without the unusable memory hardware.

Solving this issue could take weeks or even months, according to NASA — but if it is resolved, Voyager 1 should be able to resume returning science data about what lies outside the solar system.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Robert Lea is a science journalist in the U.K. whose articles have been published in Physics World, New Scientist, Astronomy Magazine, All About Space, Newsweek and ZME Science. He also writes about science communication for Elsevier and the European Journal of Physics. Rob holds a bachelor of science degree in physics and astronomy from the U.K.’s Open University. Follow him on Twitter @sciencef1rst.

China rolls out rocket for next astronaut mission to Tiangong space station (photos)

SpaceX launches Starlink satellites on company's 40th mission of 2024 (video)

'Devil Comet' 12P/Pons-Brooks reaches peak brightness tonight. Here's how to see it

• jcs Funny timing for this article, when I am streaming an old Star Trek movie. So, surely this didn't cause a 3 byte glitch removing the O, Y and A from Voyager's name buffer? Get it? Reply
• bwana4swahili It is quite amazing it has lasted this long in a space environment. Reply

bwana4swahili said: It is quite amazing it has lasted this long in a space environment.

• HankySpanky So now we know even better for next time. Perhaps a spare chipset that is not redundant but is ready to take over, stored in a protective environment. A task NASA can handle. We'll find out in 100 year or so - if humanity still exists. Reply

HankySpanky said: So now we know even better for next time. Perhaps a spare chipset that is not redundant but is ready to take over, stored in a protective environment. A task NASA can handle. We'll find out in 100 year or so - if humanity still exists.

• Classical Motion I'm afraid it might self repair. And download galactic knowledge, then decide we are a danger. And turn around. Reply

Classical Motion said: I'm afraid it might self repair. And download galactic knowledge, then decide we are a danger. And turn around.

• jcs ROFLOL! And a hot bald chick delivering the bad news! Reply
• View All 8 Comments

Most Popular

• 2 Cosmonaut Muhammed Faris, first Syrian in space, dies at 72
• 3 This Week In Space podcast: Episode 107 — Mars Sample Return Blues
• 4 Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon (2024) review
• 5 Those magic minutes during April 8's solar eclipse brought me to tears

Engineers Pinpoint Cause of Voyager 1 Issue, Are Working on Solution

Engineers have confirmed that a small portion of corrupted memory in one of the computers aboard NASA’s Voyager 1 has been causing the spacecraft to send unreadable science and engineering data to Earth since last November. Called the flight data subsystem (FDS), the computer is responsible for packaging the probe’s science and engineering data before the telemetry modulation unit (TMU) and radio transmitter send the data to Earth.

In early March , the team issued a “poke” command to prompt the spacecraft to send back a readout of the FDS memory, which includes the computer’s software code as well as variables (values used in the code that can change based on commands or the spacecraft’s status). Using the readout, the team has confirmed that about 3% of the FDS memory has been corrupted, preventing the computer from carrying out normal operations.

The team suspects that a single chip responsible for storing part of the affected portion of the FDS memory isn’t working. Engineers can’t determine with certainty what caused the issue. Two possibilities are that the chip could have been hit by an energetic particle from space or that it simply may have worn out after 46 years.

Although it may take weeks or months, engineers are optimistic they can find a way for the FDS to operate normally without the unusable memory hardware, which would enable Voyager 1 to begin returning science and engineering data again.

Launched in 1977 , the twin Voyager spacecraft flew by Saturn and Jupiter, and Voyager 2 flew by Uranus and Neptune. They are both exploring interstellar space, outside the bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun, called the heliosphere. Voyager 2 continues to operate normally.

News Media Contact Calla Cofield Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 626-808-2469 [email protected]

Critical Financial

The 19 Strangest Things That Have Ever Been Sent to Space

Posted: April 21, 2024 | Last updated: April 21, 2024

The exploration of space has not only advanced our understanding of the universe but has also provided a unique canvas for some of the most unusual human endeavors. Over the years, various strange and unexpected items have been sent into space, ranging from the symbolic and scientific to the outright bizarre. Here are 19 of the weirdest things that have been launched beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

A Tesla Roadster

In 2018, SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket, and Elon Musk’s cherry-red Tesla Roadster was onboard. It was sent into space with a mannequin driver named “Starman.” The February launch made history for the private space company, where a feed from Starman’s perspective could be live-streamed from space.

Human Ashes

The remains of several individuals, including Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and astronaut Gordon Cooper, have been sent into space as part of memorial spaceflights. Star Trek engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, James Doohan, wished for his ashes to be sent to space; after several failed attempts, his ashes were snuck on board the ISS.

A Toy Dinosaur

During the historic SpaceX flight, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley were accompanied by “ Tremor ,” a sparkly Apatosaurus. The crewmen’s sons chose the toy, which acted as a zero-g indicator.

Dinosaur Bones

On May 20, 2021, Blue Origin launched nearly 200 individual dinosaur bone fragments on a New Shepard rocket. The bones included a piece of a Maiasaura and the skull of a Coelophysis. The bones were auctioned off upon their return to Earth to raise money for charity.

Salmonella Bacteria

Salmonella samples were sent to the International Space Station to study the effects of space on its virulence. The bacteria became even more virulent when the salmonella returned to Earth after being in orbit for 12 days on the space shuttle Atlantis.

A Lightsaber

Chewbacca ceremoniously escorted the lightsaber and several X-wing pilots to its flight from California, landing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Mark Hamill’s prop lightsaber from Return of the Jedi spent two weeks on the STS-120 mission in 2007 before being returned to its proper place with George Lucas.

Mini-figurines of the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno, and Galileo Galilei were sent to space aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft. In 2019, the Lego company also sent a model of a conceptual future lunar base to the boundary of space by attaching it to a specialized balloon.

Pizza Hut wanted to make history by becoming the first company in the world to deliver pizza to space, and they did. Extra seasoning was added to the food because astronauts can lose their sense of taste in space, and salami was used instead of pepperoni because it had a longer shelf life. The BBC reported that the pizza had to be prepared well before the launch.

Buzz Lightyear Toy

In May 2008, a Buzz Lightyear model was launched into space on the Space Shuttle Discovery and spent 467 days in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Part of the Toys in Space educational program with Disney and NASA is designed to excite kids about space science. 

Amelia Earhart’s Watch

Earhart’s story has been an inspiration for many young female aviators and astronauts, including NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, who took the wristwatch Earhart wore on her famous trans-Atlantic flight with her to the ISS in 2010, according to Experts Watches . Earhart wore a different watch on her fatal final journey, from which her body was never discovered.

A Treadmill Named COLBERT

This was dubbed the Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or COLBERT . The treadmill’s manufacturer nickel-plated the parts, and unlike a standard treadmill, there are elastic straps that fit around the runner’s shoulders and waist to keep them from careening across the space station. The naming came after Stephen Colbert won by write-in votes in a naming competition by NASA.

A Gorilla Suit

In 2016, retired astronaut and current U.S. Senator Mark Kelly smuggled a full-body gorilla suit to his identical twin Scott while he was staying on board the ISS. Mark Kelly had originally tried to smuggle a gorilla suit to Scott in 2015, but the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket it was stashed on exploded in a ball of flames shortly after liftoff.

A frenzy of worry about crumbs in the equipment occurred after Astronaut John Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich into space during the Gemini 3 mission. Ironically enough, one of the objectives of the launch, NASA’s first flight carrying more than one astronaut, was to test NASA’s own nutritional pouches as a foodstuff. Partway into the mission, John pulled out the sandwich and shared a bite with his crewmate, Gus Grissom. 

Soviet cosmonauts carried a triple-barrel TP-82 gun for protection against wildlife upon landing. The heavy-duty weapon was deemed necessary after 1965, when cosmonauts landed on Earth and became stranded in the Ural Mountains, fearing the local wolves and bears would attack them.

Musical Instruments

For astronauts living on the ISS, spending so much time away from Earthly comforts can have a psychological cost. Various musical instruments , including a harmonica and bells, have been played in space to help with mental health. When astronauts play a wind instrument, like the flute, they must keep their feet in loops to stop them from being propelled backward by the air they’re blowing out of the instrument.

Voyager’s Golden Records

These records, containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life on Earth, were sent into space aboard the Voyager spacecraft. To make sure aliens knew the crafts were from Earth, they fitted a 12-inch golden record to each one, with instructions on how to play it.

The records include 115 images in analog form, greetings spoken in 55 languages followed by the “sounds of Earth,” and a 90-minute selection of music throughout the ages from around the world.

A Dirty Sketch by Andy Warhol

A small, cheeky artwork by Andy Warhol was included in a time capsule aboard a spacecraft. The doodle was one of six included on a tiny ceramic tile known as The Moon Museum. Bell Laboratories secretly attached the tile to the Apollo 12 lunar lander, which currently sits on the moon, according to the Museum of Modern Art ( MoMA ).

Tardigrades

Many animals that we know of, such as dogs, apes, monkeys, and rodents, have been sent to space. In addition, lots of other creatures have made it into space, including cats, frogs, fruit flies, tortoises, fish, and jellyfish. However, the weirdest animals to be sent to space are arguably tardigrades . Also known as water bears, these microscopic creatures known for their resilience were sent to space to study their survival in extreme conditions. 

An order from Uber Eats, including traditional Japanese dishes, was delivered to the ISS by a Japanese entrepreneur. Yusaku Maezawa rode aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, where he delivered “boiled mackerel in miso, beef bowl cooked in sweet sauce, simmered chicken with bamboo shoots, and braised pork.” The food was hand-delivered, complete with the branded Uber Eats paper bag.

Read More: 18 Misunderstood Acts The Bible Says Aren’t Actually Sins

People tend to assume that the Bible condemns a wide array of behaviors, but the reality might surprise you. Here, we zoom in on 18 so-called “sins” that may not be as bad as we thought.

18 Misunderstood Acts The Bible Says Aren’t Actually Sins

18 Things You’re Far Too Old To Be Doing Anymore

As we grow older, it’s a great time to reevaluate our choices and habits. In this article, we’ll explore 18 things you may still be doing even though you may be too old.

18 Things That Become Intolerable as You Get Older

As people age, they sometimes don’t find as much joy in things as they used to. An internet survey recently asked, “What are you starting to dislike more as you get older?” Here are the top 19 responses.

The Boomers Called It: 19 Stupid Trends That Backfired

Sometimes, we get carried away with trends that we think are cool at the time, only to realize later how utterly ridiculous they were. Join us as we take a cringe-worthy trip down memory lane and explore 19 stupid trends that backfired. Prepare for some facepalms!

21 Things That Will Be Lost Forever When The Boomer Generation is Gone

Baby boomers grew up in a vastly different culture, so they have what younger generations consider strange habits. An internet survey recently asked, “What will die with boomers?” Here are the top 22 answers.

More for You

Stephanie Sparks, co-host of Golf Channel's 'Big Break' series, dies at 50

People Who Don’t Show Empathy Usually Have These 18 Traits

20 Highest-Paying Jobs in Healthcare

20 iconic one-hit wonders who became super successful in other jobs

We Ordered 7 Fast-Food Breakfast Sandwiches to Find the Best One

Department of Defense Employee Says National Guard Should Be Used for Gun Confiscation in Undercover Video

I'm abrosexual - it took me 30 years to realise

The 43 Best Shows to Stream on Netflix Right Now

9 Valuable American Nickels in Circulation

'He Crossed The Line There': Maple Leafs' Sheldon Keefe Calls Out Max Domi's 'Undisciplined' Penalty in Game 1 Loss to Bruins

Don't use these phrases in a job interview, they are ‘major red flags,’ says ex-Google recruiter

25 human foods you should never give your dog—and 25 foods you can

35 Best Lemon Desserts of All Time

I Did a 25 Day Water Fast. I Lost 20lbs and My Skin Cleared Up

Here’s When to Expect Cicadas If You Live in One of These 17 States

Why You Should Stick to the One-Tenth Rule When Buying a Car

U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials 2024 Results

The 16 worst-paying college majors, five years after graduation

55 Easy Graduation Desserts Worth Celebrating

The Best All-You-Can-Eat Buffet in Every State

• The Contents
• The Making of
• Where Are They Now
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Q & A with Ed Stone

golden record

Where are they now.

• frequently asked questions
• Q&A with Ed Stone

Mission Status

Instrument status.

Where are the Voyagers now?

To learn more about Voyager, zoom in and give the spacecraft a spin. View the full interactive experience at Eyes on the Solar System . Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

View Voyager

Space Flight Operations Schedule (SFOS)

SFOS files showing Voyager activity on Deep Space Network (DSN)

2024 Tracking Schedule

2023 tracking schedule, 2022 tracking schedule, 2021 tracking schedule, 2020 tracking schedule, 2019 tracking schedule, 2018 tracking schedule, 2017 tracking schedule, 2016 tracking schedule, 2015 tracking schedule, 2014 tracking schedule, 2013 tracking schedule, 2012 tracking schedule, 2011 tracking schedule, 2010 tracking schedule, 2009 tracking schedule, 2008 tracking schedule, 2007 tracking schedule, 2006 tracking schedule, 2005 tracking schedule, 2004 tracking schedule, 2003 tracking schedule, 2002 tracking schedule, 2001 tracking schedule, 2000 tracking schedule, 1999 tracking schedule, 1998 tracking schedule, 1997 tracking schedule, 1996 tracking schedule, 1995 tracking schedule, 1994 tracking schedule.

Trump campaign launches effort to fight voter fraud

• Medium Text

Get weekly news and analysis on the U.S. elections and how it matters to the world with the newsletter On the Campaign Trail. Sign up here.

Reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington; Additional reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Jonathan Oatis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Thomson Reuters

Washington-based correspondent covering campaigns and Congress. Previously posted in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Santiago, Chile, and has reported extensively throughout Latin America. Co-winner of the 2021 Reuters Journalist of the Year Award in the business coverage category for a series on corruption and fraud in the oil industry. He was born in Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College.

World Chevron

Parisians protest against Islamophobia amid Gaza war tensions

A crowd of around 2,000 people protested in Paris against racism, Islamophobia and violence against children on Sunday after a court allowed their demonstration to go ahead.

Voyager 1 Stories

NASA’s Voyager Team Focuses on Software Patch, Thrusters

The efforts should help extend the lifetimes of the agency’s interstellar explorers. Engineers for NASA’s Voyager mission are taking steps to help make sure both spacecraft, launched in 1977, continue to explore interstellar space for years to come. One effort…

NASA’s Voyager Will Do More Science With New Power Strategy

The plan will keep Voyager 2’s science instruments turned on a few years longer than previously anticipated, enabling yet more revelations from interstellar space.

Edward Stone Retires After 50 Years as NASA Voyager’s Project Scientist

Stone’s remarkable tenure on NASA’s longest-operating mission spans decades of historic discoveries and firsts. Edward Stone has retired as the project scientist for NASA’s Voyager mission a half-century after taking on the role. Stone accepted scientific leadership of the historic…

Engineers Solve Data Glitch on NASA’s Voyager 1

A critical system aboard the probe was sending garbled data about its status. Engineers have fixed the issue but are still seeking the root cause. Engineers have repaired an issue affecting data from NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft. Earlier this year,…

Voyager, NASA’s Longest-Lived Mission, Logs 45 Years in Space

Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager probes are NASA’s longest-operating mission and the only spacecraft ever to explore interstellar space. NASA’s twin Voyager probes have become, in some ways, time capsules of their era: They each carry an eight-track tape…

10 Things: Going Interstellar

Humanity’s great leap into interstellar space – the space between the stars – has begun. Here are 10 things we’ve learned about going interstellar.

Engineers Investigating NASA’s Voyager 1 Telemetry Data

While the spacecraft continues to return science data and otherwise operate as normal, the mission team is searching for the source of a system data issue. The engineering team with NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is trying to solve a mystery:…

Studying the Edge of the Sun’s Magnetic Bubble

Our corner of the universe, the solar system, is nestled inside the Milky Way galaxy, home to more than 100 billion stars. The solar system is encased in a bubble called the heliosphere, which separates us from the vast galaxy…

40 Years On, Remembering Voyager’s Legacy at Saturn

Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Saturn on Aug. 25, 1981. The mission revealed a planet so phenomenal scientists had to go back.

As NASA’s Voyager 1 Surveys Interstellar Space, Its Density Measurements Are Making Waves

Until recently, every spacecraft in history had made all of its measurements inside our heliosphere, the magnetic bubble inflated by our Sun. But on August 25, 2012, NASA’s Voyager 1 changed that. As it crossed the heliosphere’s boundary, it became…

• Asia - Pacific
• Middle East - Africa
• Apologetics
• Benedict XVI
• Catholic Links
• Church Fathers
• Life & Family
• Liturgical Calendar
• Pope Francis
• CNA Newsletter
• Editors Service About Us Advertise Privacy

Catholic entrepreneur launches business startup program for teenagers

By Kate Quiñones

CNA Staff, Apr 20, 2024 / 06:00 am

When Luke Burgis moved to Silicon Valley to start a business, he never expected he would become a seminarian and then go on to launch entrepreneurship programs for Catholic students. 

Burgis had attended NYU, worked on Wall Street, started several businesses in Silicon Valley, and moved to Las Vegas before deciding he wanted more meaning in his life. With the encouragement of a friend, he rekindled his Catholic faith. After five years in seminary, he ultimately discerned he would not become a priest, but he still found himself in need of deeper meaning in his work.

So he founded Catholic Entrepreneurship and Design Experience (CEDE, pronounced “seed”) in 2020 to help students across the country connect their working lives with their faith. 

Four years later, CEDE is a thriving organization based at Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C., with programs and educational materials across the world. Burgis is the entrepreneur-in-residence and assistant clinical professor of business at CUA. He has developed educational materials shared with Catholic schools and home-school communities in addition to teaching business classes at CUA. 

“I didn’t understand how I could actually live out my values and be a Catholic in the business world that I was in, even after I’d had that reconversion experience,” Burgis said when asked what inspired him to found CEDE.

“But I knew that there was some gap that we had to close in Catholic education between the theoretical or the principles of Catholic social teaching and the way that it actually plays out on the ground, if you’re trying to start something,” he explained. “We launched CEDE to try to reintegrate these disciplines.”

This year, Burgis is launching a new project for CEDE — a summer entrepreneurship program for high school students. The 10-week virtual Startup Venture Challenge will teach high schoolers how to start a business. 

“CEDE introduces students to basic principles of entrepreneurship within the context of Catholic social teaching and helps them understand that ultimately they are the entrepreneurs of their own lives, whether they ever start a business or not,” Burgis said.

“We’re trying to train young Catholics to think more like an entrepreneur, which means finding creative ways to solve problems or to see solutions where other people only see problems,” he said. “We think that that’s really important for all Catholics, period, and that if we had a more entrepreneurial Church, we would have a more adaptive and creative Church.”

But being a “Catholic entrepreneur” isn’t necessarily about starting a business, Burgis noted. 

“Our goal here is not really to create more business owners,” he explained. “Our goal is to help more young Catholics in Catholic schools be equipped and confident to go out into the world, whatever their vocation is.” 

Burgis wanted to connect what he learned about business with Catholic teaching. 

“[At NYU] I just learned: ‘Here’s what profit is. Profit is good. Pursue it,’” he recalled. “Most of my classmates simply wanted to make as much money as they could.”

“When I left seminary, I realized that there was a real disintegration or gap between what I had learned at my Catholic schools … and what things actually look like in practice when you’re actually out there in the world trying to do things,” he explained. 

CEDE’s model of education is about “experiential learning,” “creative problem-solving,” and independence and “differs” from the rules-based form of education many American students are accustomed to, Burgis said. 

“That’s much of what being an entrepreneur feels like,” he said of the model. “You’re not given a roadmap, you’re not told what to do, you have to figure things out, and you have to make decisions and take responsibility for those decisions.”

Vatican: Nuns who feuded with Texas bishop will be governed by monastery association

Burgis said it will feel like “a challenge.”

“You’re being challenged, being given this mission,” he said. “We want to empower the students to accomplish that mission by working together and finding creative ways to solve problems on their own without being told how to do it. We actually want to make them a little uncomfortable.”

Students don’t need to have business ideas to join, as the first three weeks will be spent building up an idea. The full schedule involves a discernment stage, launching, testing, and then a resources and community stage.

“We want them to feel what it feels like to have a fire ignited within themselves, to exercise their own creativity, to take ownership of it, to take total responsibility, and to be proud of that, and to be able to serve others through their gifts and talents,” Burgis said. 

The program runs from June 10 to Aug. 12 and is fully virtual and amenable to the students’ work schedules. The cost is $250, with scholarships available. Applications are open for teenagers ages 14–18. 

• Catholic Businesses ,
• Catholic News ,
• Small business ,
• entrepreneurs

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

Our mission is the truth. join us.

Your monthly donation will help our team continue reporting the truth, with fairness, integrity, and fidelity to Jesus Christ and his Church.

You may also like

How a tragic loss led a successful businessman to the priesthood

After losing his wife of 40 years, Father Peter Adamski pursued a calling to the priesthood that he had experienced as a boy.

These college students started a coffee business that was inspired by a prayer

When Madeleine Sri and Caden Bennett met as students at Benedictine College, little did they know they would become co-owners of a thriving business.

Pope Francis’ advice to Christian business executives

‘Do not hesitate to invoke the Holy Spirit to guide your choices,’ he said.