= The Interstellar Age =
=== Jim Bell - Central 919.9204 B4338i 2015 ===
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The Arizona State University scientist [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_F._Bell,_III  | James F. Bell ]] 1965, not the anarchist [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bell | Jim Bell ]] 1958.

[[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1 | Voyager 1 ]] is the first functional space probe in interstellar space, crossing the heliopause at in 2012.  [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_2 | Voyager 2 ]] crossed in 2018. [[ https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status/ | Both spacecraft ]] are still transmitting data as I write this.

Bell was born in Rhode Island, loved the Apollo missions as a young child, and had an 8 inch Meade telescope as a teenager.    Only PBS had science shows ... mostly [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_(American_TV_program) | NOVA ]].  [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan | Carl Sagan]]'s 1980 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmos:_A_Personal_Voyage | Cosmos ]] inspired him to be a scientist.  [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_program | Viking ]] was "astounding", but [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_program | Voyager ]] was "irresistible".

 .p13 Voyager had 10 project managers, but only one project scientist, [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_C._Stone | Edward C. Stone ]]
  .namesake of asteroid [[ https://minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=5841 | 5841 Stone ]]
 .p20 "Don't anthropomorphize the spacecraft, they don't like it" -- attributed to project manager [[ https://www.nae.edu/19579/165897/20676/166043/20687/55294/55568/55569/John-R-Casani | John Casani ]]
 .p24 Sagan and Caltech's [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_C._Murray  | Bruce Murray] ]'s [[ https://www.planetary.org | Planetary Report ]] in 1989, bimonthly newsletter $15/y .
 .p27 Bell matriculates to Caltech in 1983, failed Math 1 special "Math 0.9" class, image analysis scutwork for [[ https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/65653596_Mark_Allen | Mark Allen ]], then [[ https://academic.microsoft.com/institution/122411786 | G. Edward Danielson ]]
 .p33 1985 Danielson arranges special badge to watch Voyager Uranus encounter from inside the Science Operations Room in JPL Bldg. 264 with student [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Hammel | Heidi Hammel ]] .
 .p42 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Flandro | Gary Flandro ]] develops [[ http://www.gravityassist.com/IAF3-2/Ref.%203-143.pdf | planetary assists ]] and what [[ https://collections.archives.caltech.edu/agents/people/395 | Homer Joe Stewart ]] dubbed [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour_program | "The Grand Tour" ]].  
 .p49 MJS-77 mission Jupiter Saturn evolved into Voyager
 .p53 8-track tape player recorder, about 100 images
 .p56 Three launch struts and four booms: magnetometer on 43 foot fiberglass boom, two 33 foot plasma/radio receiver booms, eight foot science boom: Plasma Wave, Cosmic Ray, Low Energy Charged Particle instruments, steerable scan platform for imaging and spectroscopy
 .p56 short boom with '''Ra'''dioisotope '''T'''hermal '''Ge'''nerator - PU238
 .p57 High Bay in JPL bldg. 179, Class 10,000 clean room (Intel's Hillsboro Fab D1D is Class 10, with wafers in Class 1 ) 
 .p58 [[  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Infrared_Telescope_Facility | NASA IRTF ]] InfraRed Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, 4205m
 .p59 Flight to Hawaii in snow boots and parka
 .p62 825 kg, 120 kg scientific instruments, launched on Titan-III Centaur
 .p63 Deep Space Network Canberra 70 meter dish, Voyager 23 watt transmitter
 .p71 [[ http://goldenrecord.org/#discus-aureus | Golden Record ]]
 .p105 miision designer [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kohlhase | Charley Kohlhase ]] and 10 colleagues.
 .p107 July 9, 1979 Jupiter flyby
 .p113 Voyagers 3 axis spin stabilized, fixed orientation
 .p118 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_A._Morabito | Linda Morabito ]] observed volcanos on Io
 .p136 Pioneer 11 just missed [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus_(moon) | Janus ]] or [[ https://en.wikipedia.or./wiki/Epimetheus_(moon) | Epimetheus? ]] by 2500 km (author writes 2500 miles)
 .p138 Voyager 1 passed behind Saturn (occultation) to measure atmosphere with both sunlight and radio attenuation
 .p139 Ditto for Titan, also measured mass, but opaque atmosphere prevented surface observations
 .p141 Voyager 1 flyby of Titan precluded gravity assist to Uranus and Neptune.  Voyager 2's deep dive missed Titan but got gravity assist
 .p153 Voyager 2 glitched behind Saturn then recovered, cause remains mystery, perhaps overheated gear in scan platform
 .p156 "face on Mars" Richard Hoagland hypothesized revolutionary physics discovery hidden by NASA
 .p171 Uranus tilted sideways, only 10 hours for observation at 23 km/s, passing near Miranda only
 .p174 Software redesigned, better motion compensation, compression in backup computer, Deep Space Network improved sensitivity
 .p178 Uranus field 60 degrees from spin, and offset 30% from center
 .p185 Observed 2 additional rings to the nine known, Hubble found 2 more later (and no more as of 2020).
 .p187 Grad student Bell won small grant to study color variations of Uranus moons; null result
 .p206 Voyager measured 3x more Neptune internal energy than arrving sunlight, and the 5-year-ephemeral Great Dark Spot\
 .book continues for another 90 pages, but the last big event, crossing the heliopause, was rather subtle and predictable.  snooze.