Engineers have solved the problem of the Voyager 1 space probe

In the second half of May 2022, a problem emerged in the Voyager 1 space probe which could have compromised its reliability. Although its mission has gone far beyond expectations (as well as that of its sister unit), scientists still rely on the scientific data that these two missions can still give to humanity being in an area of ​​Space never reached before.

Even if their end is near (they may be missing “alone” a few years) due to the depletion of radioactive fuel inside the RTGs, both probes are continuing their journey outside the heliosphere (but still inside the Solar System). Solve a problem to over 23 billion km from Earth on a relatively modest-sized object traveling further 60 thousand km / h (compared to our star) is a daunting task, but not impossible. And now the engineers have finally brought the situation back to normal.

Fixed Voyager 1 probe issue

In accordance to reported the engineers managed to solve the problem that plagued the space probe from May. As written above, although many systems are now deactivated to save energy, some are still active. These allow you to perform operations such as the transmission / reception of data as well as the maintenance of orientation with respect to the Earth (which is used precisely for communication).

According to the information, the Voyager 1 space probe (launched on September 5, 1977 and therefore almost 45 years old “on the shoulders”) would have found an anomaly to the on-board systems and in particular to theattitude articulation and control system (AACS). Until a few days ago the news was not encouraging but the situation has changed for the better recently.

The analyzes concluded that the system was sending telemetry data using an on-board computer that had not been functioning properly for several years. This caused a data corruption which therefore were not read correctly by mission control. The solution was to communicate a Voyager 1 to resume sending data through the working computer (there are multiple redundant systems on board).

Suzanne Dodd (mission project manager) said “We are happy to have the telemetry back. We will do a complete reading of the AACS memory and examine everything it is doing. This will help us try to diagnose the problem that caused the telemetry problem in the first place. So we are cautiously optimistic,” but we still have other investigations to do “.

As explained by Dodd, it is unclear why the space probe started acting this way. The engineers are then hard at work finding the actual cause of the problem (while confirming that the problem has been solved). The rest of the systems still active and more generally the state of health of Voyager 1 it is to be considered good. The status of both missions, including still active and disabled tools plus all real-time data is available on the dedicated NASA website.

Gift ideas, why waste time and risk making mistakes?
GIVE A GOOD AMAZON!