Preparations for Tracking Voyager, November 1985
The VLA was used with Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Deep Space Network in Goldstone CA to track NASA’s Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune in 1989. NRAO began planning and preparations in 1982, and test phased array observing on Voyager and planets began several years before the encounter as more antennas became outfitted for X-band. NRAO devoted 340 hours of VLA observing time to system tests and reception of Voyager's telemetry, and there were 40 scheduled telemetry passes from 26 April through 28 September 1989. This November 1985 sketch by Socorro's Paul Harden shows Bill Brundage (NRAO) and Ron Logan (JPL) with the test instrument setup at the VLA. (tracking-Voyager-Nov1985-Harding-sketch.jpg)
