Past To The Future: Voyager 1's Closest Approach to Jupiter, 1979

Lauran: If I discovered a volcano, why shouldn't I name it after me? Anywho,

Jordan: oh, there's one for the counter. I don't 

Lauran: care. I'm embracing it now. Okay. I'm embracing it 

Jordan: Oh, see, now I feel like we can't keep track of them because you're embracing them. 

Lauran: Well, I'm not, I didn't say I'm paying attention. 

Jordan: Okay. 

Lauran: I said I'm embracing it. 

Jordan: Okay. I'm 

Lauran: not going to be embarrassed by it anymore. 

Jordan: Okay.

Lauran: It is a part of me. 

Jordan: Until I have a really dumb high number that I can shove in your face? Yes. Okay. 

Lauran: Until we have enough episodes that you can, like, accumulate some number into the hundreds or thousands. My 

Jordan: Any Who montage. 

Lauran: I would love a montage. I, you know, it's been my goal in my entire life, my dream to have some sort of montage.

Jordan: In the any who montage of the one you want. I don't know what kind of 

Lauran: montage it would be, but any who montage is good for me. What montage would you have? 

Jordan: A never ending montage of me just doing dumb things and then just being like, why did I just do that? 

Lauran: Oh, I've got one. 

Jordan: What's that? 

Lauran: Words you can't pronounce.

Hey, how do you say selfishness? Normal speed. 

Jordan: No. Because you were making fun of me all day about this. Selfish nish. No. No. He can't. Selfish nish. No. There's not an ish at the end. Hold on. I can do this. 

Lauran: And then at one point, you said. 

Jordan: Shellfish nish. Yeah, I know. I know I got there. No. It is selfish. Stop. 

Lauran: One more time.

One more time. 

Jordan: Self. Ish. Nish. 

Lauran: Okay, now put it all together. 

Jordan: Selfishness. 

Lauran: Okay. It just like slurs together. Selfishness. 

Jordan: Selfishness. No. That's still wrong. I can do this. Hold on. I can do this. 

Lauran: You got it. 

Jordan: Selfishness. Yeah! Yay! There you go. 

Lauran: Okay. Anywho. Oh, 

Jordan: there's number two. 

Lauran: Yup. You guys might notice that we started our episode a little bit different since this week.

Yes. Because. Because. We are trying out some new stuff. Yeah. We decided to change up kind of the structure of our podcast. And we were kind of thinking a little bit more on like the title of our show, We Are Fine. 

Yeah. 

Because, like for us, we relate to that title heavily in terms of like the things that have happened in our lives, like in our history.

Yeah. That either made us who we are or was just a funny moment to look back on or was just, Chaos at the time, but like, we look back on those moments and are like, what if I would have done this and like changed our decisions? 

Jordan: Kind of like looking back on things as a choose your own adventure. And also like 

Lauran: some ideas 

Jordan: and also like what you could learn from those dumb choices, usually in my case.

Lauran: Yes. And because I'm a teacher, of course I had to tie in. Something to do with education because I like teaching things and I like to learn things. So with Jordan and I both being, you know, super nerds and history buffs, we Thought it would be a really fun game to play a choose your own adventure, but make it like historical events themed So today we are going to play a brand new game that we call past to the future I think it it's fitting it's fitting because it's Like, you guys really like the Excellent Adventure game that we play, and we really like those games, and they're fun for us, so we wanted to play more of those kinds of games with you guys.

So today, we're going to introduce a new one called Pass to the Future. And then on our next solo episode, we are also going to have another game that we'll reveal later on. That 

Jordan: one's a lot of fun. 

Lauran: I'm excited for that one. They're both so fun. Um, so the way that Pass to the Future works. 

Theme: Okay. Break it down for us.

Lauran: Obviously, we love, we love ourselves some AI. Okay, A. I. is our, is our futuristic friend. 

Jordan: I think it's more like our overlord, but sure, go ahead. 

Lauran: Okay, we'll call it the overlord. Um, it's more like our overlord, and our overlord is going to guide us through an adventure that is based on a true historical event, but it's going to provide us with some options on Um, actions that were, the, the action that actually took place in history.

And then some fun, random chaos that we can choose from to change history. Yes! So, that's kind of the vibe we're going for. We want to shake things up. And then, of course, because it wouldn't be a learning event without actually learning some of the stuff that did happen. When we're done playing the game, we'll get like a side by side comparison of the choices we made.

And the choices that historical figures made. And let's be, 

Jordan: let's be honest, knowing us, we're probably gonna get wacky with it, so. 

Lauran: We're gonna make history even more fun than it already is. I love, I like history, so I think it's fun. And maybe you do too. If you're in that boat with me, go ahead and throw a book in the comments, throw a history book in the comments for me, please.

So the cool thing about this game is that it's actually going to be based on historical events that take place on the date that this podcast episode will air, which is 

Jordan: I think it's going to be March 5th, because I'm looking in a crystal ball. I'm seeing the future, and it's definitely saying March 5th.

Lauran: March 5th. All right, so I had to input a little bit of information for it to get the game started for us. 

Jordan: Okay, 

Lauran: um, and then I have to change the date. So let's put the date as march 5th. Oh 

Jordan: What do we got? These 

Lauran: are some these are some historical events, man Was march 

Jordan: 5th a big day in history? Uh, 

Lauran: yeah. Yeah, it was 

Jordan: actually.

Oh boy Was when are the ides of march? I 

Lauran: was just thinking that the see we're nerds. Okay. Anywho I don't know. I 

Jordan: don't know when they are Ides of March are? Uh, 

Lauran: no. 

Jordan: I just remember, beware the Ides of March. 

Lauran: I do remember that from Julius Caesar. I feel like it is. Now we're gonna have to Google it. 

Jordan: I know.

Lauran: Okay, well, we'll do that in a minute. But the events that we have today, so it gives us four choices for historical events. Our producer is going to pick for us this time. But in the future, we are going to actually have you guys pick. So you'll have to keep your eyes and ears. Peeled for those on, um, our Instagram stories and whatnot so that you guys can vote on which historical events you want us to actually play through.

So the choices today are the Boston Massacre of 1770. The second event choice is Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech, 1946. The third event choice is the death of Joseph Stalin, 1953. And the fourth one, which I think is very like. It's just cutesy. Voyager 1's closest approach to Jupiter, 1979. Look at that.

Got some very different choices today. Yeah, that is 

Jordan: a broad spectrum of historical events. Yeah, 

Lauran: and I like that they span over like a few centuries, well, two centuries, two different centuries. Three separate events in one of those centuries. 

Jordan: So. Didn't know March 5th was a busy day. 

Lauran: I didn't either. You know, that makes me think.

Do you ever look up like what events happened on your birthday? 

Jordan: Yeah, I share a birthday with Barack Obama. 

Lauran: Oh, do you? I'm 

Jordan: pretty sure if I remember correctly. Oh, Elvis 

Lauran: died on the toilet on my birthday. 

Jordan: Wow, that's a That's not, not the same polar opposites, not the 

Lauran: same year, but same day. . 

Jordan: True. Okay. 

Lauran: Uh, yeah, I, I wonder what else happened on my birthday,

I know also, when I was born, my mom was, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, hold 

Jordan: on. I'm, I'm going back. 

Lauran: Wait, I got another one. Not what? I don't know if it was the day I was born, but during. My birth when my mom was in the hospital. 

Jordan: Yes, I remember. It was during 

Lauran: the O. J. Simpson trials. 

Jordan: Yeah, it was the trial. Oh, wait, was it the trial 

Lauran: or the chase?

I can't remember. I don't know. There's just so many random things that happened on my birthday. Alright, back on track. Okay, so our producer has chosen Voyager 1's closest approach to Jupiter, which I'm excited because I feel some alien stuff happening up in here. We 

Jordan: can go rogue. We can, 

Lauran: and we can, oh, this could turn into Star Wars.

Do you think, 

Jordan: do you think I can play Voyager 1? 

Lauran: I don't know. Is Voyager 1 gonna be a character? 

Jordan: I don't know. 

Lauran: Alright, so, the cool thing about this game also is that we get to actually pick historical figures to roleplay as while we're playing the game. A 

Jordan: little bit of D& D infusion going on. 

Lauran: Get ready to venture into deep space during one of NASA's most iconic missions.

It's March 5th, 1979, and Voyager 1 is about to make its closest pass to Jupiter, sending back never before seen images of the planet and its mysterious moons. Okay, step three, we have to choose our characters. So our character options each played a pivotal role in the Voyager mission or the broader field of space exploration.

So we get to choose one. Okay, so we've got, oh, oh, we've got five choices and I know which one you're going to pick already. 

Jordan: Is it Voyager one? Yeah. Oh, yeah. 

Lauran: Okay. So the, uh, first two options, we have Carl Sagan, famed astronomer, planetary scientist. 

Jordan: Sagan. Oh, see, I, I, I revealed it. I'm, I'm really a super nerd.

And key 

Lauran: figure in popularizing Voyager's mission. Ed Stone, chief project scientist of the Voyager program, overseeing the mission's scientific goals. Linda Morabito, the engineer who discovered Io's volcanic activity using Voyager's images. Carolyn Porco. Yeah, Carolyn Porco, a planetary scientist working on the Voyager imaging team.

Or the wild card, Voyager 1 itself. 

Jordan: Oh, you know, you know, it's 

Lauran: it literally is is saying if someone wants to roleplay as the probe Interpreting its thoughts as it zooms past Jupiter, 

Theme: you know, I want to do that. Okay, 

Lauran: you can be the Voyager 

Jordan: Yes, 

Lauran: I kind of want to be 

Jordan: The only way I 

Lauran: want to be Linda cuz she discovered the volcanic activity So I'll be Linda because 

Jordan: of Linda Belcher.

Let's be real here 

Lauran: Oh, I wasn't even thinking of that. Okay, I also want to be Linda because I like Linda Belcher as well. Okay, so we are going to play as Linda and Voyager 1. And so I'm excited to see what you say for their thoughts. All right. 

Jordan: I want to get, I want to dress up as the character. I just feel like I really want to put like a silver like ball on my head and have like little spikes shooting out.

Just go beep, bop. 

Lauran: Beep 

Jordan: boop boop 

bop. 

Lauran: Oh my gosh. Okay. So, Jordan, you will play the spacecraft on its epic journey with full creative freedom to interpret Voyager's thoughts as it speeds past Jupiter. 

Okay. 

And I will play Linda Morabito, the sharp eyed engineer who made one of the most important discoveries of the Voyager mission.

Okay. The mission begins. 

Jordan: The mission begins. 

Lauran: It's March 5th, 1979. Voyager 1 is speeding past Jupiter at over 38, 000 miles per hour, sending a constant stream of images and data back to Earth. I'm 

Jordan: fast as frick, boy. Look at me go. 

Lauran: Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Why did I say laboratory like Dexter's lab?

Theme: Laboratory. At 

Lauran: NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. are glued to their monitors, decoding the mysterious signals from the distant probe. Suddenly, Linda notices something unusual in the images of Jupiter's moon. Io, a strange plume like shape, rising off its surface. The first dilemma. Okay. 

Jordan: Okay, what am I, what am I doing?

I'm worried. 

Lauran: Linda and Voyager, we must decide how to proceed. 

Jordan: Okay. 

Lauran: So Linda, I have to decide, what do we do when we notice the mysterious plume on Io? So. Am I going to stick to the original mission plan, ignore the the anomaly, and keep capturing Jupiter's images? Business as usual, just get some pictures and come on home.

You're gonna be 

Jordan: honest? Sounds like you're not doing your job, Linda, if you choose that one. 

Lauran: Why? 

Jordan: You're a scientist! Oh, there's an anomaly going on. Just gas. 

Lauran: Should I sound the alarm, demand that the team focus on Io immediately? Three, pass it off as a camera glitch. It's probably nothing. 

Jordan: Yeah, it's probably nothing.

Lauran: Or four, secretly name it Linda's Volcano before telling anyone. 

Jordan: Okay. 

Lauran: Okay, I'm not gonna lie. I discovered a volcano. Why shouldn't I name it after me? Volcano Linda. 

Jordan: I like that idea. 

Lauran: Volcano Linda. I was 

Jordan: gonna say, here, here's Voyager 1 sending its thoughts to you. He's going, hey. You totally have the right to name that.

I do. You saw it first. I do have the You should totally name it. 

Lauran: It's my discovery. Hey, 

Jordan: but you should, you know what you should do? 

Lauran: What? 

Jordan: You should name it Linda's Toots. 

Lauran: Why, because it's a volcano? 

Jordan: Yeah, it's, shoot, no. It's 

Lauran: Fiery Toots? 

Jordan: Yeah, it's Linda's Fiery Toots. 

Lauran: Oh my gosh. Alright, and then, so what's the Voyager feeling at this point in time?

Are you curious? Are you confused? Are you just vibing in space? I'm just 

Jordan: vibing right now. I'm fast as frick. I'm just flying through space, but I do, are we close to Jupiter yet? 

Lauran: Um, well, yeah, we saw Io. Okay. It's on the surface, it's on Jupiter, right? 

Jordan: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, now that I'm back in my atmosphere.

I mean, we saw Linda. There's definitely drops of Jupiter in my hair. 

Lauran: Hey, hey, hey. If you didn't get that joke, you're too young. Okay. Uh, so the plot thickens. Linda. 

Jordan: Plot thickens. 

Lauran: You lean in closer to the screen, heart racing. Without a second thought, you scribble. Linda's Volcano, in your notes. 

Jordan: Um, excuse me, I believe Voyager 1 told you to name it Linda's Fiery Toots.

Lauran: It's too cool not to stake a claim on it. Scientific protocol can wait. This is a me time! I've worked my whole life for this mission! 

Jordan: Because that's definitely how scientific discovery works, is when you discover something, it's just dibs. Dibs. 

Lauran: Oh, wait. Io is one of the moons, isn't it? I think it is. So it's a volcano on the moons of Jupiter.

One of the moons. 

Jordan: I think you're right. I'm also not an astronomer, so. I'm not 

Lauran: either. So I'm gonna, yeah, I think it's that. Okay. I'm learning 

Jordan: today, is what I'm doing. 

Lauran: That's right, we learn together. Moments later, you casually inform the team. Hey, I think there's a volcanic eruption on Io. No big deal, totally normal.

The room freezes. Engineers and scientists crowd around your monitor. Jaws dropping. You try to act humble, but in your mind, it's officially Linda's volcano. Linda, stay humble. I'm not. I'm not gonna sit down. This is Linda's fiery toots volcano, okay? I've worked my whole career for this volcano. It's my discovery.

I'm naming it after my fiery toots. 

Jordan: I was gonna say, you called dibs. That is how the scientific community works. It is solely based on dibs. Okay. 

Lauran: Voyager 1, you drift silently past Jupiter, your sensors buzzing as you scan the swirling clouds and icy moons. 

Theme: My god. 

Lauran: Then you feel it. An anomaly on IO. Your metal frame hums with excitement.

Jordan: I'm shaking in my tin boots. My tin little boots. 

Lauran: My 

Jordan: tin little boots. I'm shaking in them. You know what I'm imagining though? 

Lauran: New space goofing? 

Jordan: New space goofing, absolutely. Um, so Do you know, one of the ways they like do space travel is called like the slingshot method? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Lauran: They use like the gravitational pull of different planets.

I'm 

Jordan: just imagining me as little Voyager 1 like doing that between like different moons and like asteroids. No, but just going curr choo! 

Lauran: Like Lightning McQueen? Yeah! 

Jordan: Look at me go! Curr choo! 

Lauran: The, like the, the off brand, the 

off brand lightning, because Lightning McQueen says ka chow. Yeah, 

Jordan: definitely. No, no, I am, I am.

No, we 

Lauran: don't want to get sued by Disney, so just cur chew. Just cur chew. Okay. Yeah. So Voyager's thinking, what is that? 

Jordan: Excuse me. 

Lauran: What is that? As Io is just burping lava at you. 

Jordan: Okay, can you, can you please, since you have dibs, please impersonate Io burping lava. 

Lauran: Uh, I'm not good at, I don't like burp sounds, I can't do it.

Jordan: Uh, no, I think that's perfect. That is, that is, that is a factual, everybody, I want everybody to know, that is a factual recording of IO. 

Lauran: That's how it actually happened. 

Jordan: Burping lava. 

Lauran: That's how it happened. You tilt your high gain antenna ever so slightly, if Voyager could do that, to get the perfect shot somewhere across the cold void.

You hope Linda notices. 

Jordan: Notice me, Linda, notice me! 

Lauran: A new problem arises. Oh no! The data starts flowing in and it's undeniable, IO is volcanically active. Something no one had expected. But now, there's a problem. 

Jordan: We gotta get Bruce Willis on this. 

Lauran: Voyager 1 is dangerously close to Jupiter's intense radiation belt.

The team has a tough call to make. 

Jordan: Mama Linda, 

Lauran: you put me in 

Jordan: danger. 

Lauran: This is your decision to make. Oh gosh. We're putting the spacecraft in charge of this extremely dangerous decision. 

Jordan: Oh man. All I know, this is 

Lauran: before AI, 

Jordan: all I know how to do is chew bubblegum and send photos and I'm all out of bubblegum.

Lauran: Okay. How do you, as the spacecraft handle the situation? 

Theme: Okay. 

Lauran: Do you follow the original course, get more data, but risk radiation damage? Do you swerve slightly to avoid the radiation belt, but you might miss crucial data on Jupiter. Do you full on kamikaze into iOS orbit? science needs answers, or do you ignore mission control entirely?

Your sentient now and you've got opinions? 

Jordan: No, not the sentient spacecraft. 1979. No, I want the sentient space. Okay. Okay, hear me out. The three options of just me and my impending doom are what I'm choosing. I'm not, I'm not playing it safe. We got a mission to do. I, hell or high water, I'm completing my mission.

You know what? I like that mentality. We're driving straight into Iowa. Science needs to know. Mama Linda needs her answers. That is 

Lauran: not what I thought you were gonna pick. We're 

Jordan: diving straight into Iowa. Oh 

Lauran: jeez, I thought you were gonna ignore it and just do what you wanted. 

Jordan: No. 

Lauran: Okay. Like I said, 

Jordan: all I know how to do is chew bubblegum and send photos.

I'm all out of bubblegum. 

Lauran: Okay, chaos mode activated. 

Jordan: Chaos, yes, that's gotta be an achievement. 

Lauran: Voyager goes rogue. We need to make like a list of random achievements to get like in a video game. You know when it pops up at the bottom of your Xbox? Yes. You get like a little fake trophy. Like we need those.

Yes, 

Jordan: I agree. 

Lauran: I want those. I want podcast achievements. 

Jordan: Achievement unlocked. 

Lauran: Yes, okay. You feel the tug of Io's gravity, the magnetic waves of Jupiter crackling all around you. Do 

Jordan: you know what this reminds me of? 

Lauran: What? 

Jordan: Interstellar, with Matthew McConaughey. I 

Lauran: have seen that. Okay. I have seen this I haven't seen many movies.

Do 

Jordan: you remember I have seen that. Do you remember the scene when he's going through, like, the black hole? Yes. And, like, time and everything's moving around him and he's just, like, shaking as he's, like, flying through space and time? 

Lauran: Is that you? That's me right now. That's you right now? Yep. Okay. Your circuits spark with an unexplainable urge.

That's just my raw awesomeness coming out 

Jordan: of me. 

Lauran: You say, forget the mission. I'm going in. Let's see this volcano up close. Mama Linda, 

Jordan: we're going dark. 

Lauran: Oh no, don't go dark. 

Jordan: That's because we're doing our mission. 

Lauran: Oh, well. I thought going dark means like, shutting off. I 

Jordan: mean it can, but this, this means like we're, we're, mission, mission go.

Mission is a go. Mission is a go. Okay. Going dark. Houston, 

Lauran: we don't have a problem? 

Jordan: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, us crashing into Iowa is definitely not a problem, Houston. 

Lauran: All right, well that's. With a sudden tilt of your thrusters, you dive toward Io's orbit, completely ignoring Mission Control's frantic commands. No, no, no, no, no, no, no!

Yes, we're all over here like, Stop! What are you doing? That's not the plan! 

Jordan: I need to 

Lauran: know! You're just like, Weeeeee! Yeah, thanks. Data streams back in glorious detail as Jupiter's radiation belts hammer your system. 

Jordan: Oh gosh, I'm getting hammered. 

Lauran: Back at NASA, alarms are blaring. Oh no, this is definitely the Houston we have a problem scene in every movie.

Alarms are blaring, engineers are losing their minds, the mission was supposed to be carefully calculated, not this. And I know, 

Jordan: this million dollar machine is now just careening, 

Lauran: probably billion dollar machine, 

Jordan: careening into a planet, or not a planet, a moon all by itself and everybody's like, what the heck is going on?

Cause you 

Lauran: know, like you don't have to be an astronaut to know that all of these missions are carefully and strategically planned. Yes. For like, very much years in advance and for the machinery to just take over and be like, That's gotta be throwing them for a loop. 

Jordan: See you later. 

Lauran: Or not. I don't know yet.

Jordan: Okay. Also, because I think how a lot of the probes work is there's not like a ton of propulsion with them. They use like gravity for a lot of the travel. Could be wrong. 

Lauran: Well, it says you have thrusters. Oh, 

Jordan: I do have thrusters. 

Lauran: You have thrusters, but you do use gravity. Yes. Because it's that whole slingshot thing you were 

Jordan: talking about.

Yeah. How scary would that be? Like, okay, like they're planning everything being gravity and then the thrusters just turn on. 

Lauran: Yeah, uh, it kind of throws your whole plan to the wind, I mean. What 

Theme: a 

Lauran: Monday. It's 824 on a Monday, what a week. Okay, so Linda, I'm standing there, just stunned. I can't believe that my entire, my entire life's work is just being hurtled into a volcanic moon.

Yes. At this point. My discovery of Io's volcanoes just became even bigger. It's not every day a billion dollar spacecraft develops a death wish. It doesn't really say that? Yes! But hey, that volcano looks amazing!

Oh my gosh! Our tax dollars at work, everybody. 

Jordan: Oh my gosh. 

Lauran: That is great. 

Jordan: I really hope Voyager 1 didn't get like more pictures after March 5th in this universe because I'm dead now. 

Lauran: We don't know that yet. No, we don't know that yet. Because the next round is called Unintended Consequences. 

Theme: Oh gosh, what did I do?

Lauran: Voyager 1's bold dive into Io's orbit reveals something Earth was never meant to see. 

Jordan: Aliens. 

Lauran: A hidden network. Of 

Jordan: aliens. 

Lauran: Of massive, underground, uh, lava tubes. Oh, not aliens? I know, I thought I was kind of disappointed in that. I was like, oh, I thought it was going to be aliens. No, it's just a massive network of lava tubes.

But the probe's instruments are now on the verge of total failure due to radiation overload. 

Jordan: Well, are these the consequences of my action? 

Lauran: Well, we made another discovery. We got lava tubes, whatever that is. We 

Jordan: also learned today 

Lauran: Isn't the Earth one, like the inner core of the Earth one giant lava tube? 

Jordan: I think.

Lauran: Or sphere? 

Jordan: There is like, there's like the mantle. 

Lauran: Yeah, we got the crust, the mantle, and then we have the core. Yeah. There's a, there's a fourth layer, I think. That's fourth grade standards. I don't need to know how to teach that. 

Jordan: I was going to say, I think it's the outer and inner core. 

Lauran: Yeah, okay. 

Jordan: Duh, know your, know your rocks.

Lauran: Listen, I know that the earth is a rock. I don't need to know the interior of the earth. But I think what we more importantly 

Jordan: learned is who would have guessed that flying a probe down into a volcano would have. 

Lauran: Negative consequences. Yeah. Or, you know, massive radiation overload. Okay. So what do I have to do?

How am I have to make the calls now because I can't trust you to make the decisions, Voyager. 

Jordan: I went rogue. 

Lauran: I can't trust you. So do I transmit all the data now, even if it fries Voyager's systems? So if I just say like, forget you, I got to take the data. Do I prioritize the lava tube data? We're getting Jupiter and Io's surface for now.

Okay. We saw what we saw on the surface. But will we ever again get to see the lava tubes? Like, we don't know. 

Jordan: Well, probably not for a while since I'm sitting in a pool of lava. It's just melting away. Unless you want to 

Lauran: spend another billion dollars spending, sending another Voyager 2 out there. One that's not sentient.

Um, do I send the Voyager into the lava tubes? Who cares about protocol? Because apparently no scientists in this mission do. Oh my gosh. And, or I could lie to mission control and claim this was all part of the plan. 

Jordan: This was the plan all along. Hold on, hold on. I just want to think about these two last options.

Because both of them are very much just like you're lying to your boss. Like, oh yeah, I totally planned on this all along. 

Lauran: Or I'm creatively explaining what is happening in my mission. 

Jordan: Impromptu decision making. 

Lauran: There you go. 

Jordan: Yes. There you go. That's some CEO skill sets right there. That 

Lauran: is, that is. You have to be able to make the hard and fast decisions.

Jordan: All right, CEO Linda, what are we doing? You're 

Lauran: going in the tubes. 

Jordan: We're going in the tubes. Good, because that's what Voyager 1 is telling you to do. I'm just sitting there like, we're going deeper. 

Lauran: Like we're already there. I can see the tubes. I need it. I want to see the rest of the tubes. 

Jordan: I know there are aliens.

Lauran: There might be. What if there are lava monsters? 

Jordan: We don't want those aliens. Lava monsters? What if they're 

Lauran: nice? Like an elemental? 

Jordan: Okay, lava elementals sound a lot nicer than lava monsters. 

Lauran: Okay, sorry, bad, bad word choice there. Okay. Lava critters. 

Jordan: Alien lava. I can get behind. Alien Lava Critters. 

Lauran: I like critters.

Critters is a fun word. It might be really cute. Yeah. Look like little 

Jordan: salamanders on fire. . 

Lauran: Or like, like little marshmallows, but fiery and burn. And that would, 

Jordan: oh, I'd wanna give a, I'd wanna give a hug. I'd want to give a hug to one. But it burned you. 

Lauran: You can get a third degree hug. 

Jordan: Rehug? 

Lauran: Stop. Alright, we're deep diving into the chaos.

Voyager goes underground. No. Alright, you slam your fist on the control panel, shouting over the chaos in the NASA control room. Forget the surface scans! Send it to the lava tube! 

Theme: To the lava tubes! 

Lauran: The room falls silent. Someone gasps. Another whispers. That's insane! 

Jordan: Another person's whispering, 

Theme: who's letting this woman drive?

Lauran: Wait, listen to this. Another person whispers, whispers, that's insane, that's 

insane, 

yeah, but so is a moon that spews lava into space. Let's go deeper. 

Jordan: Mike. Dropped. 

Lauran: Alright, Voyager 1. To be honest, 

Jordan: is that really though? That's not that insane for space. 

Lauran: No, it's really not. So, Voyager 1, you hear Linda's command through the endless void.

Jordan: And Voyager 1's like, oh, we're mission go. Mama Linda, we're making you proud. 

Lauran: I love this line. For the first time in your mechanical existence, you feel Scene. Finally, someone who gets me. 

Jordan: My chaotic probe. Someone who 

Lauran: gets me. 

No, that's 

you! You're saying that! 

Jordan: I know! I feel, I feel seen. 

Lauran: Linda. Linda. She loves you.

Thrusters fire. You pivot downward, sliding gracefully toward the glowing mouth of the lava tube. Molten rivers ooze below as your sensors scream from the extreme heat. Against all odds, you squeeze through the rocky entrance. The first Earth made object inside an alien volcano. Images flash back to Earth, twisting caverns, crystal formations unlike anything seen before, and a dark metallic object embedded deep in the tunnel wall.

It's not natural. 

Jordan: You're telling me aliens, aren't you? I don't 

Lauran: know. 

Jordan: Okay. 

Lauran: Final round. It's titled, What the Actual Heck. 

Jordan: Oh god, what if we do discover like a fifth 

Lauran: dimension now? I don't know. What if we discovered like the tesseract from like 

Jordan: Oh god, that's a problem. We caused a problem. 

Lauran: Well, we've already caused a few problems.

Jordan: Well, you know, I'm thinking about this whole probe thing. Like the Curiosity rover and all of these rovers we send to Mars, like, we don't go pick them back up. They're all just sitting there destroyed. I 

Lauran: can't remember. OK, I watched I watched, like, the documentary, Good Night, Oppie, and I can't recall if the Mars rovers were ever intended to be, like, re launched back to Earth, or if they do just, like, I know they're there now, or at least one of them is, but I, I don't know if they were ever like supposed to come back to earth or if they just say them up.

No, like if they had, like, if they had like rocket boosters or something. So 

Jordan: you're telling me the OPI, the little opportunity rover that is just wheels, a solar panel and some fancy camera and satellite equipment has a super 

Lauran: thruster pack. Yes. 

Jordan: That is going to be able to lift it out of Mars's orbit.

Atmosphere. Atmosphere and orbit. And then fly itself to Earth. 

Lauran: Listen, crazier things have happened. Did you hear about the lava tubes? And then make it through Earth's 

Jordan: atmosphere. 

Lauran: Without blowing up. Without just burning on impact. Okay, maybe I didn't think that one through. That's why I'm not the scientist here, okay?

You are not an 

Jordan: astronomer either. 

Lauran: I am not. I'm not a physicist. I'm not a rocket scientist. I never claimed to be. I just, I just read stories and think with my noggin sometimes. And if whatever sticks. That's where we go. Whatever 

Jordan: sticks. Okay. All 

Lauran: right. So like what the actual heck, 

Jordan: just like opportunity on the surface of Mars.

Lauran: Right? Whatever 

Jordan: sticks. Yep. Whatever sticks. 

Lauran: That's honestly how they were thinking with these rovers because they honestly, they intended these rovers to last like maybe two weeks. Yeah. If that Exactly. And they lasted 15 years. 

Jordan: Yeah. See, so you know what? Whatever sticks, I think, I think Voy, that's what I'm going with Voy that my nickname Voy, I think.

I think my boy Voy, he. Is in the true scientific spirit right now. He is. He is. I am learning. 

Lauran: I am learning. 

Jordan: I am learning. 

Lauran: The world watches in shock as Voyager 1's cameras capture what appears to be a geometric structure. 

Jordan: Oh god, we did find the Tesseract. 

Lauran: Hidden deep within Io's volcanic core. Something not formed by nature.

Jordan: Okay. 

Lauran: Radiation levels are now critical and Voyager has seconds before total system failure. Okay, we both have to decide this together. We 

Jordan: gotta get it. We gotta get the photo. Do 

Lauran: we transmit the alien data and fry the probe? Humanity gets the images but Voyager dies a hero. Do we risk it all and go deeper into the structure?

Who needs safety protocols? We've just been throwing them all in the wind, why not want more? Do we fake the data stream? NASA's not ready for this, keep the truth buried. So are we Area 50 wanting this? Oh 

Jordan: no, we are not, we're sharing this information. 

Lauran: Or do we initiate first contact mode? Maybe Voyager can do it.

Oh my gosh, there are so many good options here. I don't know if I want to, if I want to go deeper into the structure or if we should talk to it. 

Jordan: I kind of want to go deeper. What? I don't 

Lauran: know. I was, in my head, I was like, looking at, I was like playing through the options in my head and no words were coming out of what I was saying.

Jordan: Because it's the 

Lauran: My mind is blown. Your mind 

Jordan: is blown. It is physically like 

Lauran: What the actual heck? 

Jordan: Yeah. 

Lauran: Exactly. Alright, so are we, are we gonna go into the structure? 

Jordan: I think we should go deeper. 

Lauran: Okay, Voyager, I'm scared for you. Because we 

Jordan: still, I'm, I'm, mission go. We gotta keep going. And I'm over 

Lauran: here, Linda's over in mission control.

Voyager, whatever happens, I love you. Thank you for doing your job. And thank you for not listening to a single thing I've told you to do this whole entire mission until now. Thank you. Oh my 

Jordan: god. 

Lauran: You've done the U. S. great service. 

Jordan: Anything for my country, Mama Linda. 

Lauran: Oh jeez, into the unknown, Voyager's final dive.

Jordan: Oh gosh. 

Lauran: Okay, Linda stares at the feed, jaw dropped. A NASA director yells, abort, pull it back! But you've gone rogue once already. What's more? One more leaf of chaos. No, I 

Theme: can do it! I can go deeper! 

Lauran: Your fingers fly across the controls. The room behind you erupts in a chorus of what?! As Voyager's chorus plunges into the heart of Io's volcanic abyss.

Voyager. 

Theme: Oh gosh. 

Lauran: The heat is blistering. Your circuits scream, but you push forward. You glide through the glowing lava tube, your camera lens cracked but still transmitting. The geometric structure looms larger, sleek, cold, and untouched for millennia. You squeeze through a narrow tunnel and emerge into a vast cavern.

Floating in the center is a metallic sphere, softly pulsing with light. 

Jordan: Oh, that's weird. That's not, that's either not good, or 

Lauran: Not natural? Yeah, 

Jordan: you can go with that. 

Lauran: Before your instruments can even analyze it, the sphere emits a beam of light. Data floods your systems. Patterns, codes, star maps. But then, darkness.

radiation finally fries your circuits. Boy Boy! No! 

Not Boy Boy! No! We needed that! I We flew too close to the sun! Have 

Jordan: seen 

Lauran: it 

Theme: all. 

Lauran: Back on earth the final data packets hit earth. Seconds before Voyager's last breath. 

Theme: Oh my god, it's like, it's like a flatline. 

Lauran: Beep, beep, beeep. Oh, it's so sad. It is. Oh. Images of the alien structure go public and humanity loses its collective mind.

Conspiracy theories skyrocket. NASA scrambles to explain the discovery. But the damage is done. We are not alone. And IO has secrets far deeper than anyone imagined. Linda Morabito becomes an overnight icon, not for discovering volcanic activity, Volcano Linda. Linda's toots. Linda's fiery toots. For being the first human to send a spacecraft into an alien ruin.

Alright. See, you know what? I don't think that's how that happened in real life. 

Jordan: No, just because if I know history. Um, we have no historical records of someone boldly throwing a billion dollar piece of machinery down a volcano tube. 

Lauran: Yeah, no, 

Jordan: um. So, I will say, what I think we can take as a lesson though is, the risk of bold choices sometimes leads to bold results.

Lauran: Sometimes, more like every time. Whether the results are good or bad. 

Jordan: I didn't say good or bad, I said BOLD results. So, I'm leaving that up to 

Lauran: To what? 

Jordan: I don't know. My brain stopped there. 

Lauran: Silly, it's like, yeah. I thought you were gonna finish the sentence. Okay, so, uh, like we said, after our mission has completed, we gotta compare a little bit and see how we did versus How the actual historical event happened, which I think would be vastly different than what we did.

Jordan: You don't say. 

Lauran: Yeah, because I don't know about any alien Tesseracts that have been discovered in Jupiter's moons, do you? Oh, 

Jordan: I got one in my backyard. 

Lauran: Oh. 

Jordan: Yeah. 

Lauran: Does NASA know? 

Jordan: Don't tell them. 

Lauran: Oh, okay, okay. 

Jordan: I 

Lauran: mean, nothing. It fell in 

Jordan: the night sky. I'm not giving that back up. 

Lauran: Okay, okay. It 

Jordan: has this cool green glow.

There's a hum with it, too. It's kind of peaceful. The nose bleeds in the, uh I was gonna say, have you 

Lauran: had any adverse side effects? 

Jordan: The nose bleeds and the haunting nightmares are a little bit, uh 

Lauran: Oh, yeah, you might want to get 

that 

checked 

Jordan: out. It tells me it's friendly, 

Lauran: so Alright. Well, as with any lesson, we have to understand what actually happened.

So let's break it down. How 1 mission totally flipped history on its head, and what that could have meant for the world today. Yes. So, the discovery on Io. So, in real life, Voyager 1 made its closest approach to Jupiter and discover volcanic activity on Io, making it the first celestial body beyond Earth known to be volcanically active.

This completely changed our understanding of geologic activity in the solar system and opened new questions about planetary formation and habitation. This is one of those words I can't say. Habitability. 

Jordan: Habitability? Habitability. Habitability. 

Lauran: Habitability. Okay, so whether or not we could, you know, post up there, we could not.

So, our timeline, instead of simply spotting the volcano, we plunged into the moon's lava tubes and discovered an alien structure hidden beneath the surface. The single event would have triggered an international space race focused on Jupiter's moons. So what that means is if, in fact, Voyager would have plunged into the lava tubes and transmitted that data and it went public, every country on earth with a space program would have been in those rockets the next day trying to get to Jupiter's moons.

Jordan: So here's my thing. 

Lauran: Yes. 

Jordan: We're in that alternate universe. They, they come, they're looking for astronauts. Are you going in that tube? No. Yeah, I'm not going in that tube. I don't want radiation. Not even the, radiation. 

Lauran: I don't even like to stand that close to my microwave. Like, I don't want to go in a lava tube.

Jordan: There are very adventurous people who are like, heck yeah, jump into those taverns. Me, I'm like Man, I'm afraid of sharks and they're on earth. I don't know what's in those tubes But there is something building really weird structures 

Lauran: Yeah, and I don't feel like burning alive or also radiating to death.

No, no, thanks It also would have triggered immediate prioritization of crewed missions beyond Mars. They would definitely be trying to send some humans out there. And a potential shift in global policy around extraterrestrial contact. Because if we knew that, you know, alien life was out there, we'd be trying to talk to them.

Jordan: Beep boop boop bop.

Lauran: Okay, the Voyager's fate. Because this turned out drastically different than how it actually happened. 

Jordan: Wait, are you telling me he didn't die in a 

Lauran: I'm telling you. After Jupiter's flyby, Voyager 1 continued on to Saturn before heading into interstellar space, where it still sends Weak signals today. Oh, look at that!

It's still alive. Over 14 billion miles away, it can still send us signals. Very weak ones, but still does its job. It became the most distant human made object, carrying the golden record with messages from Earth. I 

Jordan: didn't know that was Voyager 1. Yeah! 

Lauran: Oh, look at that! I know! In our timeline, Voyager 1 went out in a blaze of glory, destroyed inside of the lava tubes after transmitting proof of alien intelligence.

That's, 

Jordan: that's Voyager 3's job. What about Voyager 2? Voyager 2, we're sending back in those tubes. 

Lauran: So he's gonna die too. Yeah, we gotta 

Jordan: confirm what Voyager 1 saw. 

Lauran: Instead of becoming a passive deep space ambassador, it became a martyr for discovery. 

Jordan: Yes! 

Lauran: The golden record would never make it to interstellar space.

What has the 

Jordan: golden record done for us so far? 

Lauran: But who cares when you've just found proof of alien life, right? I mean, that seems more important. And science fiction movies? Well, now based on true stories. Oh, that's a big one. Because, really, all, like, okay, like, Arrival. 

Yes. 

All these science, all these science fiction movies that have, like, alien life forms that are making contact with Earth.

Jordan: Yes. 

Lauran: It would be based on true stories. 

Jordan: So, you wanna know a fun fact about Arrival? 

Lauran: What? 

Jordan: The start, I think the movie kinda does it too, but the book, um, there's a specific name of it that I can't remember, but the start of the book and the end of the book. Are the exact same so it's cyclical just like that's 

Lauran: so cool.

Yeah. I like that. All right So the scientific impact wow, this gave me a lot of a lot of impacts the scientific impact So in real history the discovery of active volcanoes on Io hinted at complex geologic processes in moons and distant planets This encouraged missions like Galileo and Juno, which studied Jupiter and its moons in more depth, fueling our understanding of tidal heating and planetary geology.

Our timeline, it refocused space exploration funding. Goodbye Mars rovers, hello deep diving and drilling probes. 

Theme: Oh my god. 

Lauran: Uh, and then, 

Theme: I would want, oh my gosh, 

Lauran: for Linda, 

Theme: yes, 

Lauran: okay, for Linda, in real life, she became more famous for her discovery of the volcanic activity, it was largely by accident, she really didn't plan on, obviously, discovering it, 

Jordan: she was at the helm, 

Lauran: as, 

Jordan: as, she knew, and I was gonna say, as our recording, our factual recording of the event can attest to, Voi Voi was definitely, Doing everything for his mama, Linda.

Lauran: Yeah, well, in our event, uh, Linda became an international icon, the woman who found aliens, and probably got some sort of movie deal out of the matter. 

Jordan: Definitely a book deal. Definitely a book deal. And 

Lauran: Voyager 1 is remembered not as a quiet traveler into deep space, but as the first casualty of alien exploration, complete with statues and conspiracy theories.

So, our mission definitely shook things up. It was not at all what really happened. Although what really happened was also really cool because now we have this Voyager that's literally just chilling in space, still transmitting us some cool data every now and then. With its little dial up internet signal from the seventies.

So, uh, yeah, I would say our, our version definitely redefined humanity's place in the universe. Whereas the realistic version of, uh, of this mission had impacts, but far lesser impacts than, uh, starting an international space race. And Launching more voyagers into the lava tubes. 

Jordan: Oh my gosh. Sweet 

Lauran: lord. 

Jordan: Well, the real version avoided unnecessary voyager death, so.

Lauran: It did. Uh, so, yeah, I. I love this game. I don't, I don't know how you guys feel about it. Let us know in the comments. What are your thoughts? Do you have specific, like, topics or events that you guys would like to see or hear? Um, I know that our podcast usually comes out on Wednesdays, so if you look through the updates.

Coming Wednesdays, uh, we are going to be rotating this game out with different games, so we'll, we'll be playing it often, but not every single episode. So, we'll definitely keep you guys in the loop on what events we're going to be covering, and then eventually you guys will get to vote on them! And we're, uh, really excited to be adding this one to the rotation.

What did you think? Did you 

Jordan: really fun. 

Lauran: I think it's so fun. 

Jordan: I still 

Lauran: And I liked learning more about that! 

Jordan: I'm definitely putting my flag at half mast for Voi Voi. 

Lauran: RIP, boy, boy. 

Jordan: RIP. This episode goes out to you, our sweet, sweet space. Boy, 

Lauran: our sweet, sweet space. Boy, may you rest in your lava tubes. 

Jordan: Also, if you wanna get ahold of us, you can email us at hello at we are fine pod.com, or you can contact us at ig TikTok at Human Content Pods to let us know how you like the episode.

Lauran: I love how you say that, , what? What do they do? You say it like infomercially and it makes me, it makes me nostalgic, , 

nostalgic. It 

does because it just makes me think of like the Grab an adult and call now for your set of blow pens I had 

Theme: blow pens. I did too. Oh my god. 

Lauran: All right, don't forget guys You can check out the full episodes in video format now, I think on spotify for sure But definitely on my youtube channel mrs.

Wooley and fifth. So make sure you check those out Uh, I want to see your gorgeous face. Do you want to? See my mediocre, normal, average face. I thought 

Jordan: it was gorgeous. 

Lauran: Oh, thank you. So sweet. 

Jordan: Now me, on the other hand, oh. 

Lauran: We're your hosts, Lauren and Jordan Woolley. Special thanks to ourselves and the Voyager and Linda for this scientific discovery.

Jordan: Especially Voyvoy for all of his sacrifice. 

Lauran: Yeah, Voyvoy made some tough discoveries. You have made 

Jordan: America proud. 

Lauran: Gave his life to science. 

Jordan: To Science. 

Lauran: ha ha ha Our executive producers are 

Jordan: Lauren and Jordan Wohle 

Lauran: Aaron Corney 

Jordan: Rob Golden 

Lauran: and Shawn T. Brooke 

Jordan: Our editor is Andrew Sims 

Lauran: Our engineer is Jason Portizo And our music is by Omer 

Jordan: Benzve 

Lauran: To learn about our program, disclaimer and ethics policy and submission verification and licensing terms Go to wearefinepod.

com or reach out to us at hello at wearefinepod. com with any questions or concerns 

Jordan: We are fine is a human content We are, we are, Thor!

Theme: Hey you! I love that shirt you're wearing. And you know what would go great with that shirt? What? A nice big virtual hug, and you can get that by hitting some of these buttons down here. Subscribe, like, comment, we'll give you a big ol virtual hug. 

Lauran: Thank you so much for listening and we will see you guys next Wednesday.

Bye! Bye!