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VOYAGER 2 PPS SOFTWARE

Voyager Photopolarimeter System (PPS) data has been archived in merged files at the Planetary Data System Atmospheres Node. Data file labels are available there. Further descriptions are available here, along with some software tools used to create the merge sets, calibrate the data or read the files.

• vgr_software.tar   ( tar list )

Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics

University of colorado boulder.

Why NASA Needs a Programmer Fluent In 60-Year-Old Languages

To keep the Voyager 1 and 2 crafts going, NASA's new hire has to know FORTRAN and assembly languages.

UPDATE: The Voyager team has hired internally for Zottarelli's replacement, and the retirement is not anticipated until next year. "I go down the hallway and I meet people and I say, 'Wow, Voyager was the best project I've ever worked on. I wish I could get back on it again.' Those are the kind of people that I seek out when I have to replace people," Dodd said in the previous interview.

Larry Zottarelli, the last original Voyager engineer  still on the project, is retiring after a long and storied history at JPL. While there are still a few hands around who worked on the original project, now the job of keeping this now-interstellar spacecraft going will fall to someone else. And that someone needs to have some very specific skills. 

Yes, it's going to require coding, but it won't be in Ruby on Rails or Python. Not C or C++. Go a little further back, to the assembly languages used in early computing. Know Cobol? Can you breeze through Fortran? Remember your Algol? Those fancy new languages from the late 1950s? Then you might be the person for the job. 

"It was state of the art in 1975, but that's basically 40 years old if you want to think of it that way," Suzanne Dodd, program manager for the Voyager program, said in a phone interview. "Although, some people can program an assembly language and understand the intricacy of the spacecraft, most younger people can't or really don't want to."

you have a few tasks ahead of you and about 64 kilobytes of memory to work with

As the new engineer, you have a few tasks ahead of you and about 64 kilobytes of memory to work with. The Voyager twins sport NASA's earliest on-board computers, a step away from the sequencers used on projects like ISEE-3. A sequencer uses radio or audio tones to turn on an instrument but with an onboard computer, more functions can be automatic, which is especially helpful if your spacecraft is more than 12 billion miles away—17 hours by radio—and only certain antennas work with it. Voyager 2, now moving downward from the ecliptic of the solar system, can only be reached by the Canberra antenna of the Deep Space Network. 

The last true software overhaul was in 1990, after the 1989 Neptune encounter and at the beginning of the interstellar mission. "The flight software was basically completely re-written in order to have a spacecraft that could be nearly autonomous and continue sending back data to us even if we lost communication with it," Dodd said. "It has a looping routine of activities that it does automatically on board and then we augment that with sequences that we send up every three months."

Both spacecrafts are "very healthy for senior citizens" Dodd says and they have enough power left to run for another decade, though beyond that the future is uncertain. To try and prolong their lives, a new engineer would have to help figure out a way to make a sort of "energy audit" from afar, check to see the energy requirements of remaining instruments, and help institute shutdown procedures that make the most of what's left of the onboard energy. 

"[The original engineers] said, 'This subsystem takes 3.2 watts of power.' Well, it really took 3 watts, but they wanted to be conservative when they built the spacecraft," Dodd says. "Now, we are at the point in the mission where we are trying to get rid of the margins and get the actual numbers."

The clock is ticking.

That's when it's time to turn back to old documents to figure out the logic behind some of the engineering decisions. Dodd says it's easy to find the engineering decisions, but harder to find the reasoning. This means combing through secondary documents and correspondence hoping to find the solution, trying to get in another engineer's head.

The last resort is picking those engineers' brains directly. Many are retired, and are working on 40-year-old memories. Still, the small team working on Voyager today has a list of engineers and others on-hand to call in emergencies. Dodd herself has worked on the spacecraft off and on since 1984, just before the Uranus flyby.

"People's memories 40 years later aren't always accurate," Dodd says. "It's good to have that data point, but you can't guarantee 100% that that was the correct rationale when somebody's trying to recall it."

The clock is ticking. It's time to find a new engineer as Zottarelli prepares to retire. There will be six months to a year of on-the-job training, but that's about it. Dodd isn't holding out hope for some up-and-coming young coder who work on the project for decades to come. She says instead its closer to walking up and down the halls of JPL, hoping to nab an experienced someone slightly younger than the retirees with enough of a basis in assembly languages to keep the spacecraft going. 

"I'm typically not getting a fresh college grad, but people in their early 50s as opposed to people in their 70s."

"I'm typically not getting a fresh college grad, I'm more or less getting people in their early 50s as opposed to people that are in their 70s," she says. 

Just a warning for would-be programmers: these languages aren't on code academy. 

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system integration and astrophotography automation software

Voyager recommend.

Partnership:

Make the results count. Get the best outcome!

Go to the next level, a professional solution.

The astrophotography isn’t a simple activity... often the amount of equipment and software involved becomes a source of considerable trouble. Voyager is the perfect choice for those who search for a professional and very reliable solution . The purpose of Voyager is to obtain the best quality data from its own instruments, with only the bare essentials. Voyager is a multi core optimized software, resilient , with advanced built-in algorithms and advanced A.I. driven automatation.

A.I. driven Automata

Voyager uses AI technology to improve focus, star recognition , equation calculation for VCurve , statistical calculations , and decisions for how to handle exceptions generated by the watchdog timers. Watchdogs are timers that oversee all requests to external hardware / software and recover from soft errors . In conclusion advanced AI technology inside Voyager contributes significantly to Voyager's exceptional reliability .

Made in Italy with Passion

Yes, this is yet another astrophotography software product, but it is written by an astrophotographer for other astrophotographers, including those who travel to enjoy their hobby. Every minute saved is a minute earned for photons capturing . As any experienced astrophotographer knows, things don't always work perfectly - the guide star is lost - a cloud passes by - and again Voyager is designed for maximum recovery and reliability when these things happen.

Astrophotography like a Pro

Everything is under control.

Voyager is a systems integration software , interfacing third-part software products to make them work together and achieve practical results , using a single management console . Voyager’s goal is to reduce user interaction with the various software components needed for astrophotography , thus freeing up the astrophotographer to concentrate on other things. Voyager can interface and control a wide range of mounts, cameras, focusers, domes, weather inputs and much more.

Voyager can also be configured to send warnings to the user by external message systems – sms, email, etc. – among those included. Voyager allows you to invoke external scripts. The unique Voyager DragScript system is both easy to use and extremely flexible in application. With Voyager you can plan anything from a simple to a complex single imaging session or multiple imaging sessions. It will provide, exactly as if you were operating yourself ,  a complete operational approach including equipment connection and shutdown at the end of a session . This level of control allows you to determine what you wish to image and how, many other automated programs don’t do this. Voyager also has the ability to shoot sky flats or flats from a panel. When shooting sky flats Voyager can be programmed to calculate astronomical twilight and dawn.

Everything is Connected

Focuser and rotator, plate and blind solving, weather stations, planetarium software, viking i/o control, third part integration, ascom standard, pinpoint & platesolve2, key features, no crash coding system, multi thread, a.i. driven, pro-grade automata, zwo asi native drivers, qhy cmos native drivers, qsi native drivers, fli native drivers, multi istance, single star autofocus, multi star autofocus, drag script, multi target, roboclip target management, autoflat-cap management, fully automated sky-flat, editable interface.

• Research and Survey

Lot of WatchDogs

Auto resume, external alerts, webdashboard interface, web interactive virtual fov, web interactive framing & mosaic, web roboclip management, internal web server, json rpc api, integrated professional grade fit viewer, look at the result.

The FIT Viewer runs in its own window so you can view a full size image without having to share screen space with Voyager itself.

According to Voyager ‘s “ Reliability is First Priority ” philosophy, it runs in its own process space , so you can view your images, change the screen stretch, etc. – without interference to Voyager’s core job – while acquiring images.

Auto open files

Auto strecthing presets, fit to view, files history, std deviation, single star and multiple stars autofocus​, robofire vcurve and localfield.

VCurve autofocus is done on a single star at the center of the field of view . VCurve works best when your optics are flat – the focal point is the same across the field – or when the region of interest is in the center of the field, in a portion that is flat or close to flat (same focus). For example, this is a good choice for small galaxies and planetary nebulae.

LocalField autofocus optimizes the average focus (HFD: Half Flux Diameter) of multiple stars across the entire field . If your optics are not flat – there is some variation across the field – and your region of interest spans the field, LocalField will give you the best focus across the entire image . For example, this is a good choice for large nebulae or star clusters taking up the entire field.

Ahead, once again

Voyager web dashboard, also hosted locally on voyager's internal web server (from voyager 2.2.1). this will let you use the dashboad with and without an internet connection, when started from lan..

Voyager Web Dashboard is a Responsive Web Interface that reports session data and let you have control over your running Voyager installation , from your backyard or halfway around the world. Voyager Web Dashboard is where you can find the overview of all your connected equipment and totally manage it, taking a shot, pointing a target (celestial object) or performing an entire night session calling and executing your favourite Sequence or DragScript . With a glance in the “engine room” you can check in realtime a preview of the last shot , in a zoomable 1:1 fullscreen window and much more

Viking Remote i/o web control

If you use Viking and manage it with Voyager , also in multi instance mode , you can control your I/O card(s) status and send commands directly by the WebDashboard .

Virtual field of view

Voyager Web Dashboard contains now Framing and Mosaic planning with Virtual Field of View .

This is an interactive window, based on Aladin Lite, that shows your real Field of View, auto caltulated from your setting data in Voyager at first connection. With a deepsky color image preview you can easily drag and drop the frame getting real time J2000 coordinates . Fully integrated with RoboClip web, you can do quick and easy framing and mosaic planning , storing your data in RoboClip and getting into Voyager main interface, target, sequence, dragscript, mosaic etc . Mosaic Planning feature calculate the single tiles rotation , in Fixed Mode drawing “rotated” tiles near the pole, or Adjusted Mode for those that needs to correct single tiles Position Angle with camera rotator. Take a try,  Virtual FoV Framing and Mosaic is accurate, useful, easy and fun.

Some shot automated by Voyager

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Be a part of this journey..., start your free trial, download complete version of voyager, voyager version 2.3.11 built 2024-06-102, after 45 days of free trial, if you will decide to buy voyager , we will send you a license file so that you can continue using your copy without needs to reconfigure anything..

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24 hours after receiving the payment, we will send you a license file that will be imported into Voyager by using the Install License utility.

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License Renewal is possible only for regular license owner

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CUSTOM License

Observatories and array.

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Your Voyager's License is perpetual - it never expires.

The license entitles you to:

1) Three installations on three different PCs owned by you (not shared with others). If you want to use Voyager on an additional PC, just install the software on it and send us an email with the new serial number. You will then receive a license file specific to that device, which you can install using the same process as on the first PC. 2) Program updates and support for one year. 3) Two telephone calls by Skype or WhatsApp including a TeamViewer session in which we can assist you with setup and initial use. 4) Two telephone calls by Skype or WhatsApp including a TeamViewer session for one year , in which we can assist you in the creation and check of DragScript scripts for advanced automation.

The renewal entitles you to:

1) Program updates and support for one year. 2) Two telephone calls by Skype or WhatsApp including a TeamViewer session in which we can assist you.

Meet the Array System

Custom version for observatories and integrated array system.

Some of the Main features of Custom Array System

• Master - Slave Technology with Application Server Communication System
• Single PC multi instances or separate PCs
• Works in Local, LAN/WAN or mixed Mode
• Guide calibration, Guide execution and Dithering are Syncronized
• Advanced Dithering System managed by Single Node, Multiple Node or Full Nodes
• Centralized and Syncronized AutoFocus with RoboFocus on single star and LocalField on multiple Stars
• Syncronized Meridian Flip
• Single Mount
• Centralized Dashboard Management on Master
• Centralized Sequence Editor on Master
• Integrable in DragScript
• All the Base License feature are included, also in Slave Version.

Buy Voyager Custom Array Version

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• 1 master + 1 slave

3 Nodes Array

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First purchase Custom Array License

Custom array license renewal, help and info.

For any information about Voyager you can start by viewing the Help PDF derived from Wiki or asking us directly, we will be happy to explain things to you and answer your questions. On the net you will find some videos made by Voyager’s users that can help you get an overview. There is a beautiful unofficial fb group to subscribe to and get information.

Voyager has an users community that you can meet in a unofficial dedicated Forum and in a Facebook Group

Here you can find a Videos collection about Voyager and Viking organized by language and author.

Application Server for your Voyager Web/Desktop. Voyager is equipped with a sophisticated Application Server (AS) dedicated to interactions with external programs and web pages. Develop your dedicated desktop or web application using the many Voyager APIs. The communication protocol is based on JSON / JSON-RPC and is avaiable from TCP-IP or WebSocket. Test the functionality of the AS through our online web application, you can connect anywhere to your Voyager even locally. If you are interested in new APIs, make your request to the support email.

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Need an I/O Board Control Integration?

Do you know viking, control your i/o with viking, viking can control your i/o board also through voyager and drag script more than 40 i/o boards supported in native mode .

Viking is a companion of Voyager for management of I/O Cards . It’s also a stand alone GUI interface to control a lot of ready out of the box I/O Cards and domotic protocols on the market. Contains an Application Server (multithreading and multiclient) working in TCP/IP locally or over the LAN that use JSON-RPC Protocol. Viking supports now multi-instances , if you own two licenses (Maximum 2 instances allowed ).

Voyager have inside integrated the client to manage it and for use with DragScript . Also you can implement your own integration with other automation suite thanks to API methods exposed in JSON-RPC . All cards are normalized and client can use the same protocol to communicate command and retrieve status.

You can control/read/set:

– Digital Output – DAC output – Digital Input – Analog Input – PWM – Automation switch

You can perfom a complex automation control like control mount parking before closing roof or ventilate and warmup constantly the dome space. Perform heating operation in dome and manage powering recharcing for solar cell .

Viking ASCOM Driver

Starting from 1.0.26 Viking has now a Switch-type ASCOM Driver so other automation applications such as SGP and NINA (and generally who have a Switch ASCOM client) can now use our creature. We believe that Viking is a great product and that it has potential that is right to express themselves beyond Voyager.

Thanks to the collaboration with Michael Poelzl, who carried out the entire development, the driver is ready and usable, complete with installation and excellent configuration form.

Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7 required

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24 hours after receiving the payment, we will send you a license file that will be imported into Viking by using the Install License utility.

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Your viking's license is perpetual - it never expires..

• Program updates and support for one year.
• Two telephone calls by Skype or WhatsApp including a TeamViewer session in which I can assist you.

We guess you want to test it first, right?

Start viking trial, download complete version of viking here, viking version 1.0.33 built 2023-10-19, after 45 days of free trial, if you will decide to buy viking, we will send you a license file so that you can continue using your copy without needs to reconfigure anything., starkeeper di orazi leonardo.

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Voyager probes get virtual tune-up to keep decades-long missions going and going

By Andrew Paul

Posted on Oct 23, 2023 2:00 PM EDT

Against all odds and expectations , both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are still going strong after nearly half a century of hurtling through—and far past—the solar system. To help boost the potential for the probes’ continued operations, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have beamed out two software updates across the billions of miles separating them from the historic spacecraft. If successful, the pair of interstellar travelers could gain at least another five years’ worth of life, if not more.

On October 20, NASA announced plans to transmit a software patch to protect Voyager 1 and 2 against a glitch that occurred within the former’s system last year. In May 2022, NASA started noticing inaccurate readings coming from Voyager 1’s attitude articulation and control system (AACS). A few months later, engineers determined the AACS was accidentally writing commands into memory instead of actually performing them.

Although engineers successfully resolved an original data issue within Voyager 1 in 2022, the new patch will hopefully ensure such a problem won’t arise again in either probe. Receiving the patch will take over 18 hours to reach transmitters; Voyager 2 will get the patch first to serve as a “testbed for its twin” in case of unintended consequences like accidentally overwriting essential code. Given Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are respectively 15 billion and 12 billion miles from Earth, engineers consider the farther craft’s data more valuable, as it still remains the farthest traveling human-made object. The NASA-JPL team will issue a command on October 28 to test the patch’s efficacy.

[Related: The secret to Voyagers’ spectacular space odyssey .]

The second planned tune-up for Voyager 1 and 2 involves the small thrusters responsible for controlling the probes’ communication antennas. According to NASA, spacecraft can generally rotate in three directions—left and right, up and down, as well as wheellike around a central axis. During these movements, propellant automatically flows through incredibly narrow “inlet tubes” to maintain the antennas’ contact with Earth.

But each time the propellant is used, miniscule residue can stick within the inlet tubings—while not much at first, that buildup is becoming problematic after the Voyager probes’ (many) decades’ of life. To slow the speed of buildup, engineers have edited the probes’ operational commands to allow both craft the ability to rotate nearly 1 degree farther in each available direction. This will reduce how often their thrusters need to fire. When engineers do need to enable thrusters, they now plan to fire them for longer periods of time, thus reducing the overall number of usages. 

[Related: How is Voyager’s vintage technology still flying? ]

“This far into the mission, the engineering team is being faced with a lot of challenges for which we just don’t have a playbook,” Linda Spilker, Voyager mission project scientist, said via NASA’s update . “But they continue to come up with creative solutions.”

Experts estimate both the fuel lines and software adjustments could extend the Voyager program’s lifespan by another five years. According to NASA, however, “additional steps in the coming years to extend the lifetime of the thrusters even more.”

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Anti-aging —

Nasa wants the voyagers to age gracefully, so it’s time for a software patch, around a half-dozen full-timers and a few part-timers are keeping voyager alive..

Stephen Clark - Oct 24, 2023 12:15 am UTC

Forty-six years in deep space have taken their toll on NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft. Their antiquated computers sometimes do puzzling things, their thrusters are wearing out, and their fuel lines are becoming clogged. Around half of their science instruments no longer return data, and their power levels are declining.

Still, the lean team of engineers and scientists working on the Voyager program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are taking steps to eke out every bit of life from the only two spacecraft flying in interstellar space, the vast volume of dilute gas outside the influence of the Sun's solar wind.

"These are measures that we're trying to take to extend the life of the mission," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at JPL, in an interview with Ars.

Voyager's instruments are studying cosmic rays, the magnetic field, and the plasma environment in interstellar space. They're not taking pictures anymore. Both probes have traveled beyond the heliopause, where the flow of particles emanating from the Sun runs into the interstellar medium.

"These two spacecraft are still operating, still returning uniquely valuable science data, and every extra day we get data back is a blessing," Dodd said.

While spacecraft engineers love redundancy, they no longer have the luxury of backups on the Voyagers. That means, in any particular section of the spacecraft, a failure of a single part could bring the mission to a halt.

"Everything on both spacecraft is single-string," Dodd said. "There are not any backup capabilities left. In some cases, we powered off stuff to save power, just to keep the instruments on."

Problem-solving from more than 12 billion miles away

Over the weekend, ground controllers at JPL planned to uplink a software patch to Voyager 2. It's a test before the ground team sends the same patch to Voyager 1 to resolve a problem with one of its onboard computers. This problem first cropped up in 2022, when engineers noticed the computer responsible for orienting the Voyager 1 spacecraft was sending down garbled status reports despite otherwise operating normally. It turns out the computer somehow entered an incorrect mode, according to NASA .

Managers wanted to try the patch on Voyager 2 before transmitting it to Voyager 1, which is flying farther from Earth, deeper into interstellar space. That makes observations of the environment around Voyager 1 more valuable to scientists.

At the same time, engineers have devised a new way to operate the thrusters on both Voyager spacecraft. These small rocket engines—fired autonomously—are necessary to keep the main antenna on each probe pointed at Earth. There's a buildup of propellant residue in the narrow lines that feed hydrazine fuel to the thrusters. NASA says the buildup is "becoming significant" in some of the lines, so engineers beamed up fresh commands to the spacecraft in the last few weeks to allow the probes to rotate slightly further in each direction before firing the thrusters.

This will result in the spacecraft performing fewer, longer firings, each of which adds to the residue in the fuel lines. The downside of this change is that science data transmitted back to Earth could occasionally be lost, but over time, the ground team concluded the plan would allow the Voyagers to return more data, NASA said.

With these steps, engineers expect the propellant inlet tubes won't become completely blocked for at least five more years, and "possibly much longer," NASA said. There are other things engineers could try to further extend the lifetime of the thrusters.

“This far into the mission, the engineering team is being faced with a lot of challenges for which we just don’t have a playbook,” said Linda Spilker, Voyager project scientist at JPL, in a statement. “But they continue to come up with creative solutions.”

reader comments

Channel ars technica.

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

"This far into the mission, the engineering team is being faced with a lot of challenges for which we just don’t have a playbook."

About 46 years after NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 launched on an epic journey to explore space , the probes’ antique hardware continues to receive tweaks from afar.

One update, a software fix, ought to tend to the corrupted data that Voyager 1 began transmitting last year, and another set aims to prevent gunk from building up in both spacecraft's thrusters. Together, these updates intend to keep the spacecraft in contact with Earth for as long as possible. 

"This far into the mission, the engineering team is being faced with a lot of challenges for which we just don’t have a playbook," Linda Spilker, project scientist for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement . "But they continue to come up with creative solutions."

Related: Voyager: 15 incredible images of our solar system captured by the twin probes (gallery)

In May 2022, ground control began receiving gobbledygook from Voyager 1’s attitude articulation and control system (AACS), which keeps the probe’s antenna in line with Earth. As far as investigators can tell, the AACS’s hardware is in perfect working order; but, for some unknown reason, AACS had routed its telemetry data through a derelict onboard computer that garbled the data.

Engineers have now hammered together a software update, which they first delivered to Voyager 2 on Oct. 20. 

—  Voyager turns 45: What the iconic mission taught us and what's next

—  Scientists' predictions for the long-term future of the Voyager Golden Records will blow your mind

—  NASA's twin Voyager probes are nearly 45 — and facing some hard decisions  

This bugfix won't answer why the AACS had diverted the telemetry data in the first place, however, a mystery that may hint at a larger problem with Voyager 1 . Still, engineers are confident the patch should stem the issue — at least, after the update’s transmission completes its more-than-20-hour-long journey to Voyager 1.

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Separately, the Voyager probes can adjust their antennas by firing thrusters. But each firing of a thruster leaves behind a layer of residue in the inlet tubes that let fuel into the thrusters themselves. Over decades of maneuvers, the residue has built up; engineers worry that the tubes might soon clog completely.

So, over September and October, engineers began allowing the spacecraft to rotate more— aiming to reduce how often the probes need to fire. If successful, the maneuvers should keep fuel flowing for another five years — at least.

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].

Rahul Rao is a graduate of New York University's SHERP and a freelance science writer, regularly covering physics, space, and infrastructure. His work has appeared in Gizmodo, Popular Science, Inverse, IEEE Spectrum, and Continuum. He enjoys riding trains for fun, and he has seen every surviving episode of Doctor Who. He holds a masters degree in science writing from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and earned a bachelors degree from Vanderbilt University, where he studied English and physics. 

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• Classical Motion That's pretty good. If I recall, the Voyager transmitter is about 20-25 watts. A 12 billion mile signal. Reply
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Welcome to the Official English language Wiki for the Voyager astrophotography automation software.

Voyager is commercial software written and sold by Leonardo Orazi. The official website is Starkeeper.it .

This Wiki's purpose is to provide an English documentation, and to allow other Voyager users to contribute to the English language documentation.

Downloadable PDF Manual

A downloadable PDF version of the contents of this Wiki is available here: https://wiki.starkeeper.it/images/voyager.pdf

• Introduction
• Installation
• Main Window
• Status Window
• Command Window
• Research Survey
• Other Elements
• Variables and Control Flow
• Quick Start
• DragScript Examples

While the authors of this Wiki have worked hard to make the information useful, we cannot guarantee it is correct.

This is a volunteer effort to help the community, and there are no warranties expressed or implied.

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Please use care and caution and watch your equipment closely while running it with Voyager or any automation software, especially when trying something out for the first time.

By using the information in this Wiki, you acknowledge that you are doing so at your own risk.

The authors of this Wiki assume no liability for any loss or damage to your data or equipment resulting from your use of information in this Wiki.

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Nasa’s voyager team focuses on software patch, thrusters.

• Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Thruster Buildup

Patching things up, more about the mission, news media contact.

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 addresses fuel residue that seems to be accumulating inside narrow tubes in some of the thrusters on the spacecraft. The thrusters are used to keep each spacecraft’s antenna pointed at Earth. This type of buildup has been observed in a handful of other spacecraft.

The team is also uploading a software patch to prevent the recurrence of a glitch that arose on Voyager 1 last year. Engineers resolved the glitch , and the patch is intended to prevent the issue from occurring again in Voyager 1 or arising in its twin, Voyager 2.

The thrusters on Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are primarily used to keep the spacecraft antennas pointed at Earth in order to communicate. Spacecraft can rotate in three directions – up and down, to the left and right, and around the central axis, like a wheel. As they do this, the thrusters automatically fire and reorient the spacecraft to keep their antennas pointed at Earth.

Propellant flows to the thrusters via fuel lines and then passes through smaller lines inside the thrusters called propellant inlet tubes that are 25 times narrower than the external fuel lines. Each thruster firing adds tiny amounts of propellant residue, leading to gradual buildup of material over decades. In some of the propellant inlet tubes, the buildup is becoming significant. To slow that buildup, the mission has begun letting the two spacecraft rotate slightly farther in each direction before firing the thrusters. This will reduce the frequency of thruster firings.

The adjustments to the thruster rotation range were made by commands sent in September and October, and they allow the spacecraft to move almost 1 degree farther in each direction than in the past. The mission is also performing fewer, longer firings, which will further reduce the total number of firings done on each spacecraft.

The adjustments have been carefully devised to ensure minimal impact on the mission. While more rotating by the spacecraft could mean bits of science data are occasionally lost – akin to being on a phone call where the person on the other end cuts out occasionally – the team concluded the plan will enable the Voyagers to return more data over time.

Engineers can’t know for sure when the thruster propellant inlet tubes will become completely clogged, but they expect that with these precautions, that won’t happen for at least five more years, possibly much longer. The team can take additional steps in the coming years to extend the lifetime of the thrusters even more.

“This far into the mission, the engineering team is being faced with a lot of challenges for which we just don’t have a playbook,” said Linda Spilker, project scientist for the mission as NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “But they continue to come up with creative solutions.”

In 2022, the onboard computer that orients the Voyager 1 spacecraft with Earth began to send back garbled status reports, despite otherwise continuing to operate normally. It took mission engineers months to pinpoint the issue . The attitude articulation and control system (AACS) was misdirecting commands, writing them into the computer memory instead of carrying them out. One of those missed commands wound up garbling the AACS status report before it could reach engineers on the ground.

The team determined the AACS had entered into an incorrect mode; however, they couldn’t determine the cause and thus aren’t sure if the issue could arise again. The software patch should prevent that.

“This patch is like an insurance policy that will protect us in the future and help us keep these probes going as long as possible,” said JPL’s Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager. “These are the only spacecraft to ever operate in interstellar space, so the data they’re sending back is uniquely valuable to our understanding of our local universe.”

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have traveled more than 15 billion and 12 billion miles from Earth, respectively. At those distances, the patch instructions will take over 18 hours to travel to the spacecraft. Because of the spacecraft’s age and the communication lag time, there’s some risk the patch could overwrite essential code or have other unintended effects on the spacecraft. To reduce those risks, the team has spent months writing, reviewing, and checking the code. As an added safety precaution, Voyager 2 will receive the patch first and serve as a testbed for its twin. Voyager 1 is farther from Earth than any other spacecraft, making its data more valuable.

The team will upload the patch and do a readout of the AACS memory to make sure it’s in the right place on Friday, Oct. 20. If no immediate issues arise, the team will issue a command on Saturday, Oct. 28, to see if the patch is operating as it should.

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 Uranus and Neptune; 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, a protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun. 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]

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NASA just patched Voyager 2's software but spared Voyager 1 the risky rewrite

The upgrade might not go well, so prioritized the probe doing better science.

NASA patched its Voyager 2 spacecraft last week, to address a bug that last year saw its sibling generate corrupted telemetry data , but won't know if its fix worked – or overwrote critical code – until some time after October 28.

Both Voyagers were launched in 1977. Voyager 1 is now more than 22 billion kilometers (15 billion miles) from Earth, and almost 22 and a half light hours away. Voyager 2 is over 20 billion kilometers from home (12.5 billion miles) and more than eighteen hours and forty minutes away at the speed of light. The two probes have left our solar system and communication is therefore very slow – 160 bits per second to Voyager 1 as of May 2022.

NASA already figured out that the cause of the garbled data on Voyager 1 was the attitude articulation and control system (AACS) – a tool that controls the crafts' orientation, including keeping their antennae pointed precisely at Earth.

In a Friday post , NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory explained that the AACS was writing commands into memory instead of carrying them out. "One of those missed commands wound up garbling the AACS status report before it could reach engineers on the ground," the post states.

"The team determined the AACS had entered into an incorrect mode; however, they couldn't determine the cause and thus aren't sure if the issue could arise again. The software patch should prevent that," the document continues.

JPL's Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd explained that months of effort went into creating a patch, which was sent to Voyager 2 last Friday.

"Because of the spacecraft's age and the communication lag time, there's some risk the patch could overwrite essential code or have other unintended effects on the spacecraft," she warned. Voyager 2 is therefore the first target for the patch, because it's closer to Earth – which matters for two reasons.

For starters, communication with Voyager 2 is quicker, making uploads and tests a little easier.

NASA also rates Voyager 1's data more valuable, as it is farther from home. Messing up Voyager 2, while undesirable, is more acceptable.

The patch was despatched to Voyager 2 on October 20 and NASA plans to test it on the 28th.

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Fuel problems

NASA also made a change to address problems with the Voyagers' thrusters, which aren't in peak condition as the propellant inlet tubes that bring them fuel have accumulated a "significant" buildup of residue.

The space agency has therefore begun letting the two spacecraft rotate slightly farther in each direction before firing the thrusters, as doing so will reduce the frequency of thruster firings.

"The adjustments to the thruster rotation range were made by commands sent in September and October, and they allow the spacecraft to move almost one degree farther in each direction than in the past," reads the October 20 post. "The mission is also performing fewer, longer firings, which will further reduce the total number of firings done on each spacecraft."

The post explains that NASA has had to make a trade-off, because rotating the spacecraft more means some data doesn't make it to Earth. But mission boffins "concluded the plan will enable the Voyagers to return more data over time."

"Engineers can't know for sure when the thruster propellant inlet tubes will become completely clogged, but they expect that with these precautions, that won't happen for at least five more years, possibly much longer," the post adds.

Given Voyager's engineers have kept the two probes going far, far, longer than expected, who would bet against them finding new ways to extend their lives? ®

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Version 4.5 For Mac OS X and Windows

View the heavens on your computer from any place on the Earth, in the Solar System, or beyond. Witness celestial events thousands of years in the past or future. Voyager includes millions of stars, clusters, nebulae, and galaxies visible only through powerful telescopes. This professional version of our software is designed for the advanced user with a serious interest in astronomy. Voyager can be used to control computer-driven telescopes to show you what is actually being simulated on your computer screen. Voyager 4.5 includes a powerful set of features and capabilities.

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Voyager 2.3.9 Release - Built 2023-07-15 (32bit and 64bit)

Automatic or with Manual Download at this direct link [32 bit]: https://www.starkeeper.it/voyager/Voyager_Setup_2.3.9.zip

Automatic or with Manual Download at this direct link [64 bit]: https://www.starkeeper.it/voyager/Voyager_Setup_2.3.9_64bit.zip

Release 2.3.9 - Built 2023-07-15 - UPDATE INFO

For who already have the 64 bit Beta version its necessary to download and install the 2.3.9 64 bit from the new installer, download it. The auto update will not work for the Beta.

Wow, that is a huge update Leonardo and with a couple of new features that will change my workflow. In particular the caching of location data from the mount. Very handy for keeping my automated times to connect to the setup correct when I go to star parties.

Thanks Paul, really appreciated

What a huge release with so many good things. The comprehensive support for dynamic targets is very exciting. I also like mount location caching. Thank you.

Fantastic release Leo, congrats!

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Stunning! Leo, you’re the best.

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NASA Contacts Voyager 2 Using Upgraded Deep Space Network Dish

The only radio antenna that can command the 43-year-old spacecraft has been offline since March as it gets new hardware, but work is on track to wrap up in February.

On Oct. 29, mission operators sent a series of commands to NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft for the first time since mid-March. The spacecraft has been flying solo while the 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) radio antenna used to talk to it has been offline for repairs and upgrades. Voyager 2 returned a signal confirming it had received the "call" and executed the commands without issue.

The call to Voyager 2 was a test of new hardware recently installed on Deep Space Station 43, the only dish in the world that can send commands to Voyager 2. Located in Canberra, Australia, it is part of NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN), a collection of radio antennas around the world used primarily to communicate with spacecraft operating beyond the Moon. Since the dish went offline , mission operators have been able to receive health updates and science data from Voyager 2, but they haven't been able to send commands to the far-flung probe, which has traveled billions of miles from Earth since its 1977 launch.

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Among the upgrades to DSS43, as the dish is known, are two new radio transmitters. One of them, which is used to talk with Voyager 2, hasn't been replaced in over 47 years. Engineers have also upgraded heating and cooling equipment, power supply equipment, and other electronics needed to run the new transmitters.

The successful call to Voyager 2 is just one indication that the dish will be back online in February 2021.

"What makes this task unique is that we're doing work at all levels of the antenna, from the pedestal at ground level all the way up to the feedcones at the center of the dish that extend above the rim," said Brad Arnold, the DSN project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California. "This test communication with Voyager 2 definitely tells us that things are on track with the work we're doing."

Worldwide Network

The Deep Space Network consist of radio antenna facilities spaced equally around the globe in Canberra; Goldstone, California; and Madrid, Spain. The positioning of the three facilities ensures that almost any spacecraft with a line of sight to Earth can communicate with at least one of the facilities at any time.

Voyager 2 is the rare exception. In order to make a close flyby of Neptune's moon Triton in 1989, the probe flew over the planet's north pole. That trajectory deflected it southward relative to the plane of the planets, and it has been heading in that direction ever since. Now more than 11.6 billion miles (18.8 billion kilometers) from Earth, the spacecraft is so far south that it doesn't have a line of sight with radio antennas in the Northern Hemisphere.

Click on this interactive visualization of NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft and take it for a spin Launched in 1977, the spacecraft is now more than 11.6 billion miles (18.8 billion kilometers) from Earth. Trace its dramatic history through Eyes on the Solar System . Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

DSS43 is the only dish in the Southern Hemisphere that has a transmitter powerful enough and that broadcasts the right frequency to send commands to the distant spacecraft. Voyager 2's faster-moving twin, Voyager 1, took a different path past Saturn and can communicate via antennas at the two DSN facilities in the Northern Hemisphere. The antennas must uplink commands to both Voyagers in a radio frequency range called S-band, and the antennas downlink data from the spacecraft in a range called X-band.

While mission operators haven't been able to command Voyager 2 since DSS43 went offline, the three 34-meter-wide (111-foot-wide) radio antennas at the Canberra facility can be used together to capture the signals that Voyager 2 sends to Earth. The probe is sending back science data from interstellar space , or the region outside our Sun's heliosphere - the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun that surrounds the planets and the Kuiper Belt (the collection of small, icy bodies beyond Neptune's orbit).

DSS43 began operating in 1972 (five years before the launch of Voyager 2 and Voyager 1) and was only 64 meters (210 feet) wide at the time. It was expanded to 70 meters (230 feet) in 1987 and has received a variety of upgrades and repairs since then. But the engineers overseeing the current work say this is one of the most significant makeovers the dish has received and the longest it's been offline in over 30 years.

"The DSS43 antenna is a highly specialized system; there are only two other similar antennas in the world, so having the antenna down for one year is not an ideal situation for Voyager or for many other NASA missions," said Philip Baldwin, operations manager for NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program. "The agency made the decision to conduct these upgrades to ensure that the antenna can continue to be used for current and future missions. For an antenna that is almost 50 years old, it's better to be proactive than reactive with critical maintenance."

The repairs will benefit other missions, including the Mars Perseverance rover , which will land on the Red Planet Feb. 18, 2021. The network will also play a critical role in Moon to Mars exploration efforts, ensuring communication and navigation support for both the precursor Moon and Mars missions and the crewed Artemis missions .

The Deep Space Network is managed by JPL for the SCaN Program, located at NASA Headquarters within the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. The Canberra station is managed on NASA's behalf by Australia's national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

The Voyager spacecraft were built by JPL, which continues to operate both. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena. 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

https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov

News Media Contact

Calla Cofield

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

626-808-2469

[email protected]