Super Long Distance Nasa Fix Brings Voyager 1 Back About 15 Billion Miles Away Sciencealert

Since May, Voyager 1 has been sending jumbled information from its Articulation and Attitude Control System (AACS), which is the part of the probe that ensures its antenna is pointed at Earth. Although the rest of the probe continued to behave normally, the information it sent back about her health and activities made no sense. Through a switch in the way Voyager 1 sends the data, the problem has now been fixed. “We’re happy to have the telemetry back,” says Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Scientists were able to figure out that the spacecraft had started transmitting data through an onboard computer that was known to have stopped working years ago. The NASA team instructed Voyager 1 to return to the correct computer for communication. What we don’t yet know is why Voyager 1 decided to start changing the way it sent data back to its home planet. The most likely explanation is a faulty command generated somewhere else in the probe’s electronics. This in turn suggests that there is another problem somewhere else, otherwise the computer switch would never have happened. However, the Voyager 1 team is confident that the long-term health of the spacecraft is not at risk. “We’re going to do a full memory read of the AACS and look at everything it’s done,” Dodd says. “This will help us try to diagnose the problem that caused the telemetry issue in the first place.” Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 (which launched a month earlier than its twin) have traveled so far in 45 years that they are now both beyond the point known as the solstice, where the Sun’s solar winds are no longer felt and space is officially considered interstellar. Although Voyager 1 shut down some of its systems and lost some functionality during this time, and Voyager 2 also needs some troubleshooting, both probes continue to report back to Earth – even though a message can take approx. two days to cover the required distance. Spacecraft have sent up-close images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, and in recent years have continued to record and analyze their weird and wonderful experiences in space. Voyager 1 has not engaged the “safe mode” routine, which indicates that it is not detecting anything amiss and the signal from the spacecraft has not weakened. It’s all good, he can keep reporting for many years to come. “We’re cautiously optimistic, but we still have more research to do,” says Dodd. You can track the probe on the Voyager Mission Status website.

title: “Super Long Distance Nasa Fix Brings Voyager 1 Back About 15 Billion Miles Away Sciencealert Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-12” author: “Lillian Balson”

Since May, Voyager 1 has been sending jumbled information from its Articulation and Attitude Control System (AACS), which is the part of the probe that ensures its antenna is pointed at Earth. Although the rest of the probe continued to behave normally, the information it sent back about her health and activities made no sense. Through a switch in the way Voyager 1 sends the data, the problem has now been fixed. “We’re happy to have the telemetry back,” says Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Scientists were able to figure out that the spacecraft had started transmitting data through an onboard computer that was known to have stopped working years ago. The NASA team instructed Voyager 1 to return to the correct computer for communication. What we don’t yet know is why Voyager 1 decided to start changing the way it sent data back to its home planet. The most likely explanation is a faulty command generated somewhere else in the probe’s electronics. This in turn suggests that there is another problem somewhere else, otherwise the computer switch would never have happened. However, the Voyager 1 team is confident that the long-term health of the spacecraft is not at risk. “We’re going to do a full memory read of the AACS and look at everything it’s done,” Dodd says. “This will help us try to diagnose the problem that caused the telemetry issue in the first place.” Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 (which launched a month earlier than its twin) have traveled so far in 45 years that they are now both beyond the point known as the solstice, where the Sun’s solar winds are no longer felt and space is officially considered interstellar. Although Voyager 1 shut down some of its systems and lost some functionality during this time, and Voyager 2 also needs some troubleshooting, both probes continue to report back to Earth – even though a message can take approx. two days to cover the required distance. Spacecraft have sent up-close images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, and in recent years have continued to record and analyze their weird and wonderful experiences in space. Voyager 1 has not engaged the “safe mode” routine, which indicates that it is not detecting anything amiss and the signal from the spacecraft has not weakened. It’s all good, he can keep reporting for many years to come. “We’re cautiously optimistic, but we still have more research to do,” says Dodd. You can track the probe on the Voyager Mission Status website.