With power sharing now essential to the survival of Voyager communications, recording mode has been permanently terminated. For over thirty years Voyagers 1 and 2 have floated through our galaxy, gathering invaluable information about the planets and moons they passed. Photographs were taken, and magnetic pulse wave activity was recorded. Collected data was routinely transmitted back to mission control at the NASA headquaters.

Although Voyagers' photographs offered immediate gratification, scientists struggled for decades to find a tangible use for the magnetic pulse recordings. However, with recent advancements in digital audio and computing, breakthroughs were made. Using a state-of-the-art MDS (Magnetic Decoding System) NASA engineers were able to convert the pulse waves into audio signals.

After months of painstaking efforts, over 9000 hours worth of audio recordings were successfully manipulated, with a further 2000 hours being deemed unconvertable. Although much of the audio was incoherent, there was enough interesting material judged useful enough to preserve. An audio engineer was given the task of extracting and editing the audio log into a compact, listenable package.

By May 2007 the log was completed and mastered for commercial listening purposes. A ten track, 45 minute CD has been finalised - featuring excerpts from Mars, Jupiter, Io, Europa, Saturn, Titan, Triton, Neptune, Pluto and beyond. Recordings range from the serene fragility of the Ice Fields, to the chaos of a 900mph Cyclone.

VOYAGER BACKGROUND

The last two spacecraft of NASA's Mariner series, Voyager 1 and 2 were the first in that series to be sent to explore the outer solar system. Preceeded by the Pioneer 10 and 11 missions, Voyager 1 and 2 were to make studies of Jupiter and Saturn, their satellites, and their magnetospheres as well as studies of the interplanetary medium. An option designed into the Voyager 2 trajectory, and ultimately exercised, would direct it toward Uranus and Neptune to perform similar studies.

Although launched sixteen days after Voyager 2, Voyager 1's trajectory was a faster path, arriving at Jupiter in March of 1979. Voyager 2 arrived about four months later in July 1979. Both spacecraft were then directed on to Saturn with arrival times in November 1980 (Voyager 1) and August 1981 (Voyager 2). Voyager 2 was then diverted to the remaining gas giants, Uranus (January 1986) and Neptune (August 1989). A more detailed table specifying the closest approach distances/times for these encounters is available.

Data collected by Voyager 1 and 2 were not confined to the periods surrounding encounters with the outer gas giants, with the various fields and particles experiments and the ultraviolet spectrometer collecting data nearly continuously during the interplanetary cruise phases of the mission. Data collection continues as the renamed Voyager Interstellar Mission searches for the edge of the solar wind's influence (the heliopause) and exits the solar system.
Launch Date: September 5, 1977 (Voyager 1)
August 20, 1977 (Voyager 2)
Launch Vehicle: Titan III E-CentaurOn-orbit mass: 721.9 Kg Power System: Radioisotope Thermal Generators (RTGs) of 420 W From NSSDC: Voyager Project Information
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VOYAGER; Audio Log track listing as follows...

1. MARS, The Red Desert

2. JUPITER, Electric Storm

3. IO, Lava Flow

4. EUROPA, The Hidden Geysers

5. SATURN, 900mph Cyclone

6. TITAN, Beneath The Liquid Hydrocarbon Sea

7. TRITON, Ice Volcano

8. NEPTUNE, The Ice Fields

9. PLUTO, Frozen at -235c

10. GRAVITY ASSIST, Into Beyond ............................................................ ...