By Gary Meyer, TME

Last November, the Voyager 1 space probe—which was launched in 1977—began communicating data gibberish back to Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena. JPL is operated by NASA.

Lake of the Woods resident Brad Wallis retired from JPL eight years ago, but he notices when problems are reported regarding JPL/NASA missions.

Wallis had arrived at JPL in 1976, within the year following NASA’s launches of the two Mars-bound Viking spacecraft. Both included Mars landers and orbiters.

He settled in on the Viking Science Team as a Science Planner.

Wallis became a key member of the science team that, the following year, sent both Voyager 1 and 2 probes on their way to Jupiter and Saturn. He would also later serve on the Cassini mission’s return to Saturn.

The original purpose of the Voyager mission was to “conduct closeup studies of Jupiter and Saturn, Saturn’s rings, and the larger moons of the…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Above: One of the Voyager spacecrafts at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, in the 1970s, being prepared for its mission.

Above: Lake of the Woods resident Brad Wallis

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This is part of the March 15, 2024 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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