So I'm looking at a printout right now and it says and Voyager 2 at the moment is 17473733160 miles away so how much power is required to transmit this data across all those miles it's about tall what's 12 yes when we were in high powered us 20 it's 20 watts big thing so it's like a light bulb of a fridge it's. A master not Ron Garan I've lived 178 days in space the twin Voyager probes had been out there for 40 years and never ceases to amaze me this is 1700 technology we're talking about in space 1977 here on the b.b.c. World Service I'll be telling the story of one of the most remarkable expeditions in human history. The Voyager missions have drama discovery some nudity and music and the screening masses Voyager spacecraft have explored Jupiter Saturn Uranus and Neptune sending back detailed views of these strange worlds they've revealed just in Moon's incased an ice covered in volcanoes and bathed in gasoline smog. And. * With the. With. Johnny. And. With. Me and. The spacecraft have also changed our perspective on the earth and with golden gramophone records strapped to their sides they are taken human culture including some good old fashioned rock n roll to the stars. The border mission has to be ranked as the greatest exploratory mission of all time it was an incredibly brave optimistic product of the social mentality of the era that sense of adventure I think is really in grained in humanity and who we are and to be a part of that and to be on the leading edge of that is very humbling. So you can can you just tell us your name and what your what your role is here at all in a growing Amazon to recommit the inner I am the I did to control propulsion and power got me as an engineer for Voyager and I'm the mission controller all to one day a week I'm wins this today when 3 is my day. I also supported a web page. And what else do I do with janitorial a little bit. But not much so we're here in this nondescript building in a residential area of Pasadena California thanks they said and where we're going to be communicating with objects that are outside the solar system in interstellar space at least in the case of Voyager one what do you think about that is that you know you're talking to a spacecraft that transmitted with at most 20 watts of power across all those billions and billions of miles and here we are in a residential area Pasadena California what. Do you think about this is one of the most robust piece of engineering ever time it is incredible what has been achieved with 970 s. Technology the loss of the relative the son of a Voyager one is 3038000 miles per hour Yeah so it's almost 10 am miles per 2nd. When you when you give it in seconds it's hard to comprehend but when you say mph they're familiar with going to 100 mph they're not bethought me that we're going to 38000 but well I'm used to going to 5 miles a 2nd so there you this is twice as fast as. The space shuttle is facing is that right maybe instead of thinking of speed or distance try this the Voyager probes are so far away it takes a radio signal traveling at the speed of light 31 hours to make its way from Pasadena to the Voyager 2 spacecraft and back 38 hours for Voyager one and every time that signals received it's the most distant message ever. A record is broken every day by these investors from Earth products of the science culture and thinking of 1977. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all America what we want to do is make a leap frog product that is way smarter than any mobile device where I guess we're part of a plane crash in the World Trade Center the quake measured 8.9 on the Richter scale the biggest in the world also my fellows 1st steps back to sleep after the 3rd of his life and only the government of the Yemeni tonight and I know that there will be democratic elect the body of his best it will be on public view at his home to our going today that everybody by that. We. Have who may have. 'd been a member be. All right so we are here at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and I am really excited we have Dr Ed Stone here who has had a tremendous career and we're standing in front of one of his babies I guess. You've been the principal investigator on 9 different NASA space missions co-investigator on 5 others and a whole list of awards and it's interesting absolutely incredible career you know our producer Rich would say it's a stellar career and I want to I would say I would be that she's a. When you look at the whole arc of your career and everything that you've accomplished where does Voyager play into that well Voyager is really the basis for almost everything I've done I did do research before Voyager but Voyager has become the principal focus now for the last 40 years and you've been we're going to since I was at 1972 Yes that's right I became that you scientists of the mission in 1902 and when they 1st began the design and construction I had the great privilege of launching into space twice and I can tell you that when you watch someone he that you really care about wants into space it's a lot harder than actually launching into space yourself so throw yourself back to 1977 the launch of the 1st Voyager mission and you're and you're watching is what was going through your mind when you're spacecraft are sitting there on the launch pad Well you know we all are optimists somehow it really will work but we had to because we wanted to assure And so we get least get to Saturn I think we're basically optimistic that everybody is done here the thing we know how to do in fact both successfully launched and both are still running today a little bit a little bit of relief quite a bit of I guess All right so here we are with the front of the full scale mock up of Voyager and Sir can you can you walk us through the spacecraft of main thing you see is a large white dish antenna it's 12 feet across and it's always pointed to the earth because that's the way all the data comes back from Voyager and that's the way Voyager receives any messages from Earth about what to do next so that's the biggest thing and everything else is attached to that in the main bus which it hides behind this antenna is where all the spacecraft equipment is that flies a spacecraft 3 different computers control the spacecraft This was the 1st computer controlled spacecraft ever launched and it still flies itself it sex itself it can switch to backup systems if it needs to all by itself then sticking out from behind and above and below the antenna if you like this is the science boom which has mounted on it. Some of the instruments which are still working plus a scan platform which can point other instruments when we flew by planets and satellites and rings and so on and on the other side opposite of this science by far is a boom which has 3 or radioisotope thermal electric generators that's what's has given the spacecraft it's a long life basically the natural radioactive decay of plutonium 238 creates heat that heat is converted to electricity with thermal couples so we're now in our final decade because each year we have 4 watts less power than we had the year before so talk to us about the difference between the computing power of this spacecraft and what we might have in our pocket or so or some of the new spacecraft that we're launching today well on your smartphone has 240000 times more memory than Voyager has now your smartphone has a space computer speed which is $100000.00 times faster than boys are so these are very primitive computers and the absurd memories are very small so we use every single bit in them and the memory to store the programs and to run the programs it's an amazing spacecraft it's left the solar system it's out in interstellar space right now what does that mean to you what is it what do you think the significance that this is the furthest human made object. In the universe. Humans have been explorers for ever and the fact they're mythological explorers are well and this is just the newest generation of human exploration by robotic means which now is outside of solar bubble the boat sun creates this huge bubble around us all of the planets we are now 4 times further out than they are most planet and our interstellar space we are now touching the space that's fills most of the universe. Who do. The engineering and scientific discoveries alone are worthy enough of a b.b.c. World Service documentary but more about that later there's a whole other aspect to Voyager. So here's a question what do Louis Armstrong box. Azerbaijani bagpipes. And a tractor have. Those sounds all feature on the record attached to each Voyager spacecraft messages from Earth to other civilizations artist John Lomberg was the design director for the Voyager golden record a record made to last a 1000000000 years the record which is exactly the same as an old style LP except it's made of metal and it's at 16 in 2 thirds r.p.m. Rather than $33.00 in the 3rd which means you get twice as much material on it most of it is the coup stick material. The majority the large majority is music human music from all over the world and throughout time. And then there are the sounds that you might hear on planet Earth. I mean the sound of human speech people saying hello and I think it's 54 human languages Hello from the children of planet Earth the hey yet they're not in the new you yeah I know you as Mona go into Hoppa woman talking shiny monkey. All you saw a little south of us trying to tell a little bit about what our planet was like the kind of beings that lived on it the species in particular that made this record this was not a message from NASA or the United States but it was a message from planet earth so the image of Earth should reflect the entire Earth rather than just the nation or agency that Senate the golden record project was led by Cornell University astrophysicist and famed astronomer Carl Sagan by the 1970 Sagan had become one of the world's best known scientists as well as working on NASA missions including the 1st to land on Mars he wrote popular science books and was a regular contributor to t.v. And radio programs including here on the b.b.c. Astronomy speaks to us it's very ancient the contemplation of astronomy lived through the work of Kepler Newton to modern physics and essentially to much of modern science and people because of the connection of astronomy with the issues of cosmic perspective where we are who we are where we come from I think astronomy is exactly the right science to be an interesting laypeople But Carl Sagan Steen had a problem from start to finish we had 6 weeks to do this project not to design what we wanted to do but at the end of the 6 week we had to have a physical record to give to NASA to put on the spacecraft. Well that's absurd. I was on a kind of creative adrenaline high I couldn't really sleep soundly because I kept waking up with oh I have to remember to call this guy or all here's an idea of something I might do when writing them down. If there was a kind of a surreal or hyper real quality to the whole experience. The. The. We are come only success Stephanie Nelson is a professor at California State University in Los Angeles a specialist in world music we are beings who make music being says sing as well as speak and so I think it tells us that that about us and that we felt that in order to express who we truly are we need it to include music because music is a huge part of our culture and our emotional life the Voyager disc features music from across the globe one of the 1st compilation records of world music there was also some early classical 3 pieces from Bach 2 from Beethoven and aria from Mozart's Magic Flute. Was. The when the originally supposed words were being made and bandied about Mozart was not included and I told Carl I think Carl if you leave Mozart off you're going to get crucified for that that's a mistake you can make. With a composer like Mozart who's given you so much pleasure How can you thank them 'd. But this was something I could do promotes art and the fact that a little bit of Mozart is on the record because I lobbied for it and got it on I think the things I'm most proud of. Probably don't want to say about 30 percent of the music is what we call dead white european male music so yeah I don't know you know it was the choice of those who made the record at the time. And. I think it's pretty amazing when you look at what could have been put on in terms of American music this was the culture that built the spacecraft right it's all black American music which is pretty interesting there's Duke Ellington there was Chuck Berry and the hearse Blind Willie Johnson a beautiful blue Song about homelessness 'd. And then the other Merican piece is a Native American piece it's a Navajo chant So there's no John Philip Sousa there's no Elvis Presley there's no Lawrence Welk you know there's still a lot of people who aren't included in representing American music I think that they probably should have included Elvis like you. But the music selection was the least controversial aspect of the golden desk voyagers predecessors tinier $10.11 and engraved plaques attached to their sides showing a naked man and a naked woman Carl Sagan's team plan to include dozens of pictures of Earth encoded on the record these would also include a photo of a nude couple obviously any picture of nude people was going to be the one that the press and everybody else really focused in on so we knew that but we also knew or at least I felt that it was an essential part of the of the portrait of humanity so after a lot of effort we found a picture that we thought was neither titillating pornographic nor overly clinical and was also a beautiful photograph and there was a photo we found of a couple where the woman was about 5 months pregnant 56 months pregnant. It seemed to us to to just be right well NASA was having none of it before the final record could be approved Carl Sagan had to go to Washington and basically show everything that we planned to send and that was the one picture that they had no way. And that is a decision that whenever I speak about it to an audience usually draws a derisive laugh because it just seems so petty and. So revealing of something about ourselves that. Slightly ridiculous. Critique I want to spend this sky at night talking about the voyage of just about the most elaborate spacecraft so far built and of course now going to the outer planets Jupiter and Saturn and suddenly you're in this possibly Voyager 2 was launched on the 20th of August 1977 Voyager one when September 5th neither with any naked images on board they were sent on different trajectories using the gravity of the planets to ping them around the solar system Patrick Moore a very British version of Carl Sagan put it like this they're using the techniques once what we call interplanetary billions I think everyone called it that now yes so let's begin with Voyager what the 2nd month we launched the 1st one and it turns out when it comes to interplanetary geometry there was something extra special about $977.00 project scientist Ed Stone if you launch a spacecraft in 1977 it could fly by all 4 giant outer planets say like a slingshot effect from one to the other being being being and so the plan was we would launch 2 spacecraft the 1st one Voyager one would do Jupiter and Saturn if it succeeded then the 2nd Voyager would come along and fly by Saturn in a way to continue on to Uranus which you did in 1906 and then after that success we were given the next approval to go on to Neptune in 1909 and the following year we were given approval of to start the interstellar mission not. Knowing how far it was or whether the spacecraft would last a long I came to j.p.l. And I had the choice do I want to work on the Viking extended mission or this brand new mission called Voyager Linder spill who now leads the Cassini mission to Saturn began her career on Voyager and I said Voyager Where is Voyager going and they said Well Jupiter and Saturn and if all goes well onto your innocent Neptune which are not going to have better question where it's not going so I said sign me up I want to explore the outer planets because you see in 3rd grade I had this tiny telescope and I use it to look at Jupiter and its moons and Saturn in the rings and I thought wow a chance to get up close and personal with these planets I'm on board. So in 1977 you're just getting started out here and what were those early days of the mission Like in on Voyager or so incredible I started in early 1977 and I actually got to go and see the Voyager launch at the Cape and I thought what a way to launch my career by watching the spacecraft go up into space and Voyagers were really on a fast trajectory 2 years later we were at Jupiter another year and you had Voyager one at Saturn and then followed by Voyager 2 at Saturn It was one thing after another but we did have a 5 year window between the last Saturn fly by and the 1st year in us fly by and that's when I had my family and fact I tell my daughters that their births are based on the alignment of the planets and I really mean that it's where Saturn and Uranus were relative to Voyager so you sort of plan your life right out a coincidence or is that actually is that actually calculated Oh no this was very calculated and the fact in fact if you look at Voyager you'll find a lot of Voyager babies were born in that 5 year window between Saturn and Uranus and our kids grew up together we played softball together and that was really kind of a nice aspect of working on Voyager by the end of the 1977 the twin Voyager pros were on their way to Jupiter I'm astronaut Ron Garan and this is space 1977 here on the b.b.c. World Service Still to come what the Voyager spacecraft have taught us about the solar system in our place among the stores and I get to say Space the final frontier. Each day here on the b.b.c. World Service we take you back in time I would say personal accounts moments of history it was a beautiful day remember the sunny and crisp field full of sheep and one sheep just dropped and I remember somebody saying I was a boy once a girl because that seemed symbolic that women at last to take a place outside men in the priesthood sex health religion politics bull cult there are no limits the kind of lubricant was just another Miles Davis record I thought so it was no pressure that there probably was a least pressure to. Look at a record. Database in person moments that everybody has heard of but we also uncover hidden gems it's not just history that's in the textbook written down these are people talking about what it meant to them witness at b.b.c. World Service dot com or subscribe to the podcast This is astronaut Ron Garan here on the b.b.c. World Service with Space 977 the continuing mission of the 2 Voyager spacecraft are in basters to the stars coming up we hear about their discoveries and then we head to Hollywood I call science fiction reality ahead of schedule I'll also be asking Voyager has given us any new perspective on planet Earth join me for more space 977 after the latest b.b.c. News b.b.c. News with Jerry Smit. President Trump has suggested he thinks that there's been a change in North Korea weeks of the highly charged exchanges with Pyongyang ovaries nuclear missile program and a wide ranging speech to supporters in Phoenix Arizona Mr Trump said he believed the North Korean leader Kim Jong un was starting to respect the United States and he was hoping for something positive to come out of it. China's trade with North Korea dropped last month indicating economic problems for Pyongyang which relies on China for the vast majority of its trade China customers data show that Chinese imports from North Korea have dropped by one 3rd in the past year the drop is due in part to abandoned coal imports from