Voyager Command & Analysis Software Source Code

Greetings:

Please be advised, pursuant to NASA FOIA Regulations §1206.300 (a) A requester submitting a request for records must include his/her name and mailing address, a description of the record(s) sought (see §1206.301), and must address fees or provide justification for a fee waiver (see §1206.302) as well as address the fee category in accordance with §1206.507. It is also helpful to provide a telephone number and email address in case the FOIA office needs to contact you regarding your request; however, this information is optional when submitting a written request. If a requester chooses to submit a request online via the NASA FOIA Web site, the required information must be completed. Do not include a social security number on any correspondence with the FOIA office.

Please provide your complete mailing address if you would like NASA to proceed with your request. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Dennis B. Mahon
Freedom of Information Act
Public Liaison Officer,
Records Manager,
Privacy Act Manager and
Audit Liaison Representative
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Suite RA000
NASA Management Office
4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 180-200K
Pasadena, CA 91109-8001
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/FOIA/jpl/index.htm
Phone: (818) 393-6779
Fax: (818) 393-3160

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RA000/NMO October 12, 2016

MuckRock News
Attn: Mr. Allan Lasser
requests@muckrock.com
DEPT MR 28641
PO Box 55819
Boston, MA 02205-5819

Re: FOIA Request 17-JPL-F-00014

Dear Mr. Lasser:

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) dated and received October 3, 2016 at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory FOIA Public Liaison Office. Your request was assigned Case File Number 17-JPL-F-00014. Your request was for:

Source code for the command and analysis software for the Voyager mission, [reported on by WIRED in 2013](https://www.wired.com/2013/09/vintage-voyager-probes/): "The spacecrafts’ original control and analysis software was written in Fortran 5 (later ported to Fortran 77). Some of the software is still in Fortran, though other pieces have now been ported to the somewhat more modern C."

Please be advised that the information you requested is not a Government record. Generally, software is not a Government record. Additionally, not all data at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are government records. Contractor records are not subject to the FOIA in that they are not Government records, not in our control, and beyond the reach of a FOIA request. In accordance with Clause H-37 of NASA Contract NNN12AA01C, the Contractor, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), shall own all copyrights in computer software, including derivative works, developed under this Contract. As this software was developed under the JPL contract, Caltech holds a copyright thereto, and, thus, even if the government was in possession of the source code, we could not provide it to you in violation of copyright law. This is a “no records” response.

You have the right under 14 CFR §1206.700 to appeal this determination within 90 days from the date of this letter. Your appeal must be in writing and should be addressed to:

Administrator
NASA Headquarters
Executive Secretariat
MS 9R17
Washington, DC 20546
ATTN: FOIA Appeals

The appeal should be marked “Appeal under the Freedom of Information Act” both on the envelope and the face of the letter. A copy of your initial request must be enclosed along with a copy of the adverse determination and any other correspondence with the FOIA office. In order to expedite the appellate process and ensure full consideration of your appeal, your appeal should contain a brief statement of the reasons you believe this initial decision to be in error.

Since you did not provide sufficient information for us to make a determination of your requester category, your request was placed in the ‘all other’ requester category for fee purposes. In this category, requesters receive two hours of search and 100 pages of copy/scan without charge. Fees for processing this request are less than $50.00 and are not being charged in accordance with 14 CFR §1206.504(f).

For your information, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) offers mediation services to resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies. The contact information for OGIS is as follows: Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, Room 2510, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001 or ogis@nara.gov.

Please feel free to contact me at for further assistance in writing to this center at the address shown on the letterhead. You may also e-mail correspondence to jpl-foia@nasa.gov or reach me by telephone at 818-393-6779 and fax at 818-393-3160. Also, you may contact Ms. Miriam Brown-Lam, Principal Agency FOIA Officer and Chief FOIA Public Liaison at 202-358-0718.

Sincerely,

//SIGNED ORIGINAL ATTACHED//

Dennis B. Mahon

Freedom of Information Act

Public Liaison Officer

So we may improve our FOIA Program, please complete a short survey at the following web site:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/FOIA/jpl/foia_survey.htm

Dennis B. Mahon
Freedom of Information Act
Public Liaison Officer,
Records Manager,
Privacy Act Manager and
Audit Liaison Representative
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Suite RA000
NASA Management Office
4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 180-200K
Pasadena, CA 91109-8001
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/FOIA/jpl/index.htm
Phone: (818) 393-6779
Fax: (818) 393-3160

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Greetings:

You would need to file a separate request to our office for the NASA Contract NNN12AA01C. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Dennis B. Mahon
Freedom of Information Act
Public Liaison Officer,
Records Manager,
Privacy Act Manager and
Audit Liaison Representative
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Suite RA000
NASA Management Office
4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 180-200K
Pasadena, CA 91109-8001
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/FOIA/jpl/index.htm
Phone: (818) 393-6779
Fax: (818) 393-3160

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