Charley Kohlhase’s Solar System
The images that awed Voyager’s mission designer.
- By Paul Hoversten
- AirSpaceMag.com, January 24, 2013
Courtesy Charley Kohlhase
In the 1970s and 1980s, Charley Kohlhase led the mission design team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that selected the best flight paths for Voyagers 1 and 2 and chose the aiming points at each outer planet to return the best science. He also created, with Jim Blinn, the first computer-graphic flyby animations for each encounter. Kohlhase, who spent 40 years at NASA and received the agency’s Distinguished Service Medal, also found time to write the JPL “Travel Guides” given to the press before the Uranus and Neptune encounters, and has an asteroid (13801 Kohlhase) named in his honor. An exhibited photographer, digital artist, published author, and environmentalist, Kohlhase still oversees studies and design activities for several space missions. He lives in Pasadena, California, and has two daughters and three grandchildren. Air & Space asked him to recall a few of his favorite Voyager images. See the gallery above for his selection.
Pictured: Kohlhase has always dreamed about the future, whether reading science fiction or designing missions for NASA. So it comes as no surprise to find him using 3D software and his artistic talents to create pictures of future journeys to other worlds. In this scene titled “Outpost,” rendered on his computer at home in Pasadena, an advanced manned spaceship is shown approaching a remote facility on a distant water world.
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Comments (2)
Thank you for such a fascinating article. You were able to convey the passion and dedication Charley Kohlhase gave to accomplishing two of human kind's greatest discovery missions.
Having the images be selected by a man who is both artist and great navigator to the outer planets made for an insightful and beautiful aesthetic experience.
I hope there will be yet another article on his thoughts and achievements as the mission design manager for Cassini, which is flawlessly exploring Saturn. It is extraordinary that the same man is key in navigating another flawless mission. He truly deserved NASA's Distinguished Service Metal!
Posted by Linda Malm on January 27,2013 | 12:32 AM
A reminder of how wonderful the photos are from the amazing work done by NASA and their spacecraft. As a nation we need to reenergise and return to the space age.
Posted by Olaf Ohman on February 22,2013 | 02:17 PM