Voyager mission telecommunication firsts

The communications firsts of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Voyager mission are discussed. These include achievements in radio telemetry with regard to distance, the spacecraft hardware, and the earth-based part of the system. Innovative coding techniques provided extremely low bit error probabilities. In navigation, the Neptune encounter was supported by the longest-distance ranging ever, Doppler, and the first operational use of delta very-long baseline interferometry. The Voyager mission was the first specifically designed to obtain radio-science data, by having very exacting requirements for radio system stability, both at S- and X-bands, and for frequency and timing system stability, both flight and ground.<>