The University of Arizona
The Evolution of LPL: 1973-2000



Spacecraft Missions: Voyagers 1 and 2, 1979-1989
The Department   Graduate Students   Ground-Based Research  
  The Pioneers |  Mariner |  Viking |  Pioneer Venus |  UVSTAR |  Galileo |  Mars Observer |  NEAR-Shoemaker |  Mars Pathfinder
  Lunar Prospector |  IMAGE

Randy Jokipii
Right now the Voyagers, the Voyager spacecraft, are punching through the boundaries of the heliosphere. I’m heavily involved with understanding what’s going on there. That’s going to last another decade I think. There’s still enough radioactive power on those things that they’ll be sending data back. We’re right at the farthest we’ve ever been and there’s new stuff; we’ve found new things out there. The boundaries of the heliosphere—actually the Sun carves out a spherical bubble of interstellar gas and it has a certain size. Now Voyager going through that boundary. So we know that size for the first time, and we know the very beginning to actually understand that phenomenon.