Voyager 1 Returns: NASA’s 46-Year-Old Spacecraft Beams Data from All 4 Instruments After Months In The Dark

After a long haul of nearly eight months, some good news has finally surfaced, Voyager 1 which has been silent since November 2023 is now active and operational again. It is successfully transmitting usable data to Earth with all of its four science instruments intact.

In November last year, the Voyager spacecraft started transmitting unintelligible data back to Earth, with its usual 0’s and 1’s binary code disrupted. Voyager 1 is a 46-year-old spacecraft and it is possible that it might have malfunctioned. The spacecraft is currently charting through an entirely untraversed interstellar space which is at least 15 Billion miles or 24.14 billion km from our Earth!

Despite challenges, the Voyager 1 team persevered in their efforts to diagnose the spacecraft’s issues. Their persistence has paid off, as controllers have now pinpointed the problem: the flight data subsystem (FDS). This subsystem is responsible for packaging data destined for transmission to Earth.

With a deeper inquiry the exact source, a chip, was identified that was causing the issue. After identifying the new location in the FDS, Voyager 1 successfully transmitted understandable data on April 20, 2024. However, this data only came from two of its four science instruments. Currently, the two remaining science instruments on Voyager 1 are operational and maintaining effective communication with mission control on Earth.

About NASA’s Voyager 1

It is NASA’s space probe which was launched on September 5, 1977. It is a part of the Voyager program and was assigned to explore and investigate the outer Solar system and the Interstellar space. It receives its routine daily commands through the NASA Deep Space Network, which the Voyager 1 uses to communicate and transmit data back to Earth.

One of the most interesting and unique things about the spacecraft is that at a distance of 162.7 AU (24.3 billion km; 15.1 billion mi), this is the sole human-made object that exists. Before entering interstellar space the probe also captured glimpses of our other neighbours in the solar system making flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Doing a flyby of Titan took priority over Pluto as the moon has a considerable atmosphere.

 

Voyager 1 extensively investigated the weather patterns, magnetic fields, and ring systems of two gas giants, making history as the first probe to capture detailed images of their moons.

Voyager 1 Returns: NASA’s 46-Year-Old Spacecraft Beams Data from All 4 Instruments After Months OfflineIn a historic achievement, Voyager 1 breached the heliopause and ventured into interstellar space on August 25, 2012, becoming the pioneering spacecraft to reach this distant realm. Two years later, Voyager 1 encountered a third series of coronal mass ejections from the Sun, persisting until at least December 15, 2014. This ongoing phenomenon solidified the probe’s position within interstellar space, reaffirming its groundbreaking journey beyond the confines of our solar system.

Now as the voyager ventures through the uncharted interstellar space, it will continue to send back valuable data that will further help in enhancing the understanding of Human beings about the mysterious space.

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