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Author Topic:   Ed Stone retires as Voyager project scientist
Robert Pearlman
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posted 10-25-2022 01:39 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
NASA release
Edward Stone Retires After 50 Years as NASA Voyager's Project Scientist

Stone's remarkable tenure on NASA's longest-operating mission spans decades of historic discoveries and firsts.

Edward Stone has retired as the project scientist for NASA's Voyager mission a half-century after taking on the role. Stone accepted scientific leadership of the historic mission in 1972, five years before the launch of its two spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Under his guidance, the Voyagers explored the four giant planets and became the first human-made objects to reach interstellar space, the region between the stars containing material generated by the death of nearby stars.

Above: Ed Stone in 2019, in front of a scale-model of the Voyager spacecraft at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Until now, Stone was the only person to have served as project scientist for Voyager, maintaining his position even while serving as director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California from 1991 to 2001. JPL manages the Voyager mission for NASA. Stone retired from JPL in 2001 but continued to serve as the mission's project scientist.

"It has been an honor and a joy to serve as the Voyager project scientist for 50 years," Stone said. "The spacecraft have succeeded beyond expectation, and I have cherished the opportunity to work with so many talented and dedicated people on this mission. It has been a remarkable journey, and I'm thankful to everyone around the world who has followed Voyager and joined us on this adventure."

Linda Spilker will succeed Stone as Voyager's project scientist as the twin probes continue to explore interstellar space. Spilker was a member of the Voyager science team during the mission's flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. She later became project scientist for NASA's now-retired Cassini mission to Saturn, and rejoined Voyager as deputy project scientist in 2021.

Jamie Rankin, a research scientist at Princeton University and a member of the Voyager science steering group, has been appointed deputy project scientist for the mission. Rankin received her Ph.D. in 2018 from Caltech, where Stone served as her advisor. Her research combines data from Voyager and other missions in NASA's heliophysics fleet.

Above: Ed Stone, left, talks to reporters at a news conference to announce findings from Voyager 1’s flyby of Uranus in 1986. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The twin Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977, on a mission to explore Jupiter and Saturn, ultimately revealing never-before-seen features of those planets and their moons. Voyager 1 continued its journey out of the solar system, while Voyager 2 continued on to Uranus and Neptune – and remains the only spacecraft to have visited the ice giants.

Following this "grand tour" of the outer planets, the Voyager Interstellar Mission began. The goal was to exit the heliosphere – a protective bubble created by the Sun's magnetic field and outward flow of solar wind (charged particles from the Sun). Voyager 1 crossed the boundary of the heliosphere and entered interstellar space in 2012, followed by Voyager 2 (traveling slower and in a different direction) in 2018. Today, as part of NASA's longest-running mission, both spacecraft continue to illuminate the interplay between our Sun, and the particles and magnetic fields in interstellar space.

"Ed likes to say that Voyager is a mission of discovery, and it certainly is," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager. "From the flybys of the outer plants in the 1970s and '80s, to the heliopause crossing and current travels through interstellar space, Voyager never ceases to surprise and amaze us. All those milestones and successes are due to Ed's exceptional scientific leadership and his keen ability to share his excitement about these discoveries to the world."

Among the many honors bestowed on him, Stone has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1984. He was awarded the National Medal of Science from President George H.W. Bush in 1991. When Stone was interviewed on the late-night TV show "The Colbert Report" in 2013, NASA arranged for host Stephen Colbert to present him with the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the agency's highest honor for a nongovernment individual. In 2019, he received the Shaw Prize in Astronomy from the Shaw Foundation in Hong Kong for his work on the Voyager mission.

Headshot
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From: Vancouver, WA, USA
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posted 10-25-2022 01:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Headshot   Click Here to Email Headshot     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
An amazing career of a truly amazing individual.

Philip
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From: Brussels, Belgium
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posted 10-29-2022 06:28 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Philip   Click Here to Email Philip     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Superb work at NASA-JPL, unmanned spaceflight is exciting!

NASA-JPL engineers have been polite people giving out autographs since 1975.

Blackarrow
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From: Belfast, United Kingdom
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posted 10-29-2022 11:09 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
We should all wish Ed Stone a long and fulfilling retirement after a stellar career of solar system exploration with the Voyager Project. We should remember that before Voyager the outer planets were, at best, small shimmering blobs through even our best telescopes. Thanks to Ed Stone and his talented colleagues, our knowledge of the outer planets has improved exponentially.

On a personal note, I met Ed at JPL (Spacefest 2014) and was greatly impressed by a man whose knowledge and abilities were matched only by his modesty. He seemed genuinely surprised that with a roomful of Apollo astronauts downstairs, so many people would want to spend time listening to him and his Voyager colleagues.

David C
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From: Lausanne
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posted 10-29-2022 02:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for David C     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Blackarrow:
We should remember that before Voyager the outer planets were, at best, small shimmering blobs through even our best telescopes.

Not wishing in any way to belittle the achievements of Voyager, or disrespect the fantastic work of Mr Stone; Pioneer 10 and 11 tend to get forgotten. Those first pictures were amazing.

Blackarrow
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From: Belfast, United Kingdom
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posted 10-30-2022 03:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
You're absolutely right, and I stand corrected. It was a progression from those wavering images in telescopes, to the Pioneer images, and to the Voyager images. However, I think the Pioneer imaging people would admit that there was a massive leap in quality from Pioneer to Voyager.

RobertB
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From: Israel
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posted 11-02-2022 04:25 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for RobertB   Click Here to Email RobertB     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Maybe Pioneer was like Alan Shepard's first flight and Voyager like John Glenn's?

In any case, Dr. Stone had one of the best jobs in the world (or in the entire Solar System) for a long time!

Glint
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posted 11-02-2022 01:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Glint   Click Here to Email Glint     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Only time I saw Dr. Stone was at an event held at Baltimore's The Johns Hopkins University in the late 80's or early 90's. As the slide show began, the slide operator made some minor mistake. Dr. Stone berated him in front of the audience and didn't let up. You could tell the student operating the projector was very embarrassed. Dr. Stone left me with a lasting impression that he was an intolerant impatient and narcissistic human being.

Blackarrow
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From: Belfast, United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 11-09-2022 08:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Everyone can have an "off-day" and I really don't think we can judge a man on a single encounter. Of course, the same applies to my single encounter, but I want to add that I observed his demeanour for several hours and feel confident that everyone at that event in 2014 came away with a very high regard for Dr Stone and his talented colleagues.

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