Charles E. Kolhase, Manager of Mission Analysis and Engineering for the Voyager Project, later explained the situation: “Voyager 1 should have been launched September 1. Had it been launched on September 1—and I’m glad it wasn’t—the maneuver to correct the trajectory for a Titan flyby would have required a change in velocity of 100-110 meters per second—an enormous maneuver—and we would have had a propellant margin for going on to Saturn of perhaps 4.5 kilograms. But, by launching on the fifth of September we increased our margin to 23 kilograms. Fortunately, for every launch date that went by, that velocity change maneuver was shrinking at a rate of 10 meters per second per day. Now, a 1 meter per second change uses about a pound of hydrazine [about 0.5 kilogram]. So when we launched on the fifth of September, now we suddenly had 40 pounds of hydrazine excess over what we would have had if we had launched on the first of September. As a result, Voyager 1 is in great shape as far as hydrazine is concerned.” THE DEEP SPACE NETWORK A vital component of the Voyager Mission is the communications system linking the spacecraft with controllers and scientists on Earth. The ability to communicate with spacecraft over the vast distances to the outer planets, and particularly to return the enormous amounts of data collected by sophisticated cameras and spectrometers, depends in large part on the transmitters and receivers of the Deep Space Network (DSN), operated for NASA by JPL. The original network of these receiving stations was established in 1958 to provide round-the-world tracking of the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1. By the late 1970s, the DSN had evolved into a system of large antennas, low-noise receivers, and high-power transmitters at sites strategically located on three continents. From these sites the data are forwarded (often using terrestrial communications satellites) to the mission operations center at JPL. The three DSN stations are located in the Mohave desert at Goldstone, California; near Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra, Australia. Each location is equipped with two 26-meter steerable antennas and a single giant steerable dish 64 meters in diameter, with approximately the collecting area of a football field. In addition, each is equipped with transmitting, receiving, and data handling equipment. The transmitters in Spain and Australia have 100-kilowatt power, while the 64-meter antenna at Goldstone has a 400-kilowatt transmitter. Most commands to Voyager are sent from Goldstone, but all three stations require the highest quality receivers to permit continuous recording of the data streams pouring in from the spacecraft.