Editing Binary Golay code (section)

== Practical applications of Golay codes ==
=== NASA deep space missions ===
Error correction was vital to data transmission in the [[Voyager program|Voyager]] 1 and 2 spacecraft particularly because memory constraints dictated offloading data virtually instantly leaving no second chances.  Hundreds of color pictures of [[Jupiter]] and [[Saturn]] in their 1979, 1980, and 1981 fly-bys would be transmitted within a constrained telecommunications bandwidth.  Color image transmission required three times as much data as black and white images, so the 7-error correcting [[Reed–Muller code]] that had been used to transmit the black and white Mariner images was replaced with the much higher data rate Golay (24,12,8) code.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www-math.ucdenver.edu/~wcherowi/courses/m7409/mariner9talk.pdf |title=Combinatorics in Space - The Mariner 9 Telemetry System |last=Cherowitzo |first=Bill |publisher=[[University of Colorado Denver]] |access-date=2012-06-06 |archive-date=2013-09-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927082620/http://www-math.ucdenver.edu/~wcherowi/courses/m7409/mariner9talk.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Radio communications ===
The [[MIL-STD-188]] American military standards for [[automatic link establishment]] in [[high frequency]] radio systems specify the use of an extended (24,12) Golay code for [[forward error correction]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tracebase.nmsu.edu/hf/reports/Golay_Codec.pdf|title=An Efficient Golay Codec for MIL-STD-188-141A and FED-STD-1045|last=Johnson|first=Eric E.|date=1991-02-24|access-date=2017-12-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://everyspec.com/MIL-STD/MIL-STD-0100-0299/download.php?spec=MIL-STD-187_721B.026564.pdf|title=Military Standard: Planning and Guidance Standard for Automated Control Applique for HF Radio|date=1994-04-04|website=EverySpec: Specifications, Standards, Handbooks and Mil-Spec documents|access-date=2017-12-09}}</ref>

In [[two-way radio]] communication [[Squelch#DCS|digital-coded squelch (DCS, CDCSS)]] system uses 23-bit Golay (23,12) code word which has the ability to detect and correct errors of 3 or fewer bits.