For more than 45 years, the Voyager 1 spacecraft has been cruising the universe, crossing the boundaries of the solar system and becoming the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space.Iconic in every way, Voyager 1 provided groundbreaking data about Jupiter and Saturn and captured The loneliest picture on earth. But perhaps nothing is more lonely than an aging spacecraft that has lost its ability to communicate billions of miles from home.
NASA’s Voyager 1 has been out of order for months Sending meaningless data to ground control. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have been trying to solve the problem, but the process has been painfully slow given the spacecraft’s current distance. Things are looking pretty bleak for an aging mission that may be coming to an end. Still, NASA isn’t ready to give up on its most distant spacecraft just yet.
“The team continues to gather information and is preparing steps that they hope will put them on the path to understanding the source of the problem and/or resolving it,” a JPL spokesperson told Gizmodo in an email.
This anomaly may be related to the spacecraft’s Flight Data System (FDS). FDS collects data from Voyager’s science instruments, as well as engineering data about the health of the spacecraft, and combines them into a data package that is transmitted in binary code to Earth.
However, the FDS and TMU may not be able to communicate with each other. Therefore, the TMU keeps sending data to mission control in a repeating pattern of ones and zeros.
The problem first emerged in May 2022, when the detector suddenly started sending Meaningless Attitude Expression and Control (AACS) Data. Engineers solved the problem by sending the telemetry data through another computer on the spacecraft. In December 2023, Voyager 1 started gibbering again.
Voyager 1 currently has a distance of 15.14 billion miles (24.4 billion kilometers), flying through interstellar space at a speed of 38,000 miles (23,612 kilometers) per hour. Because of Voyager 1’s distance, it took JPL engineers approximately two days to send a signal to the spacecraft and receive a response back (22 hours one way).
“After doing that, they spend a few days digesting the information they got, looking at old documentation to see if they can make sense of the little bit of information they gleaned from the thing (since the telemetry data itself isn’t usable), and then send another command (Either trying to change something on the spacecraft or providing more information),” a JPL spokesman said. “It takes about a week, which is why the process is so slow.”
Voyager 1 was launched in 1977, less than a month before its twin probes Voyager 2 began its own journey into space. But due to its faster route, Voyager 1 left the asteroid belt earlier than its twin, making close encounters with Jupiter and Saturn, where it discovered two Jupiter moons, Thebe and Metis, As well as five new moons, and a new ring called G. -Rings, surrounding Saturn. Voyager 1 ventured into interstellar space in August 2012, becoming the first spacecraft to cross the boundaries of the solar system.
As the Voyager probes travel far from home, each carries information from Earth. Even if this is the last we hear from Voyager 1, the probe has accomplished its mission and will forever be remembered.
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