Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and traveled to explore the outer planets. Telemetry from the spacecraft was received on both the S- and X-bands at 2,560 bits per second. By the time they had reached Mars, a single signal had taken about 10 minutes to reach Earth. Due to both Voyagers’ successful encounters with Jupiter and Saturn, the mission was extended to include Neptune and Uranus in the mid 1980’s. After their encounters with the outer most planets, both Voyagers moved towards the edge of our solar system. Voyager 1 is further from the Earth than its counterpart at about 18 billion kilometers away; a signal from Voyager 1 takes over 34 hours round trip. Voyager 1 became the first man made object to exhit the solar system in August 2012 and is still supported by the Deep Space Network today.
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