We're exploring where the sun gives way to the stars.

This week on Planetary Radio.

I'm Sarah al-Ahmed of the Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our solar

system and beyond.

Nearly 50 years after launch, the twin Voyager

spacecraft are still out there, exploring beyond the sun's protective electromagnetic bubble. After

crossing the heliopause, Voyager became the first mission to explore interstellar space,

and it's still sending data home. This week, I'm joined by Linda Spilker, project scientist for

the Voyager mission at NASA's chip propulsion laboratory. We talk about what Voyager has taught us about

the heliopause, how the spacecraft revealed the structure of the space beyond the sun's primary

influence, and why a mission launched nearly half a century ago is still reshaping our

understanding of the solar system. Then and what's up, Bruce Betts, our chief scientist, places Voyager

in the broader context, explaining how long-lived missions continue to change the way we do space

science. If you love planetary radio and want to stay informed about the latest discoveries,

make sure you hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcasting platform. By subscribing,

you'll never miss an episode filled with new and awe-inspiring ways to know the cosmos and our

place within it. The twin Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977.

It was during a rare planetary alignment that let a single mission visit the outer planets in one sweeping journey.

At the time, the goal was ambitious but finite.

First, visit Jupiter and Saturn, and in the case of Voyager 2, go on to Uranus and Neptune. No one expected these spacecraft to still be working nearly 50 years later,

let alone rewriting our understanding of the boundary between our solar system and interstellar space.

The Sun's influence stretches far beyond the worlds that orbit it,

...