Voyager 1

NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, which started its journey in 1977, has started to send scientific data again after staying quiet for a while because of a computer problem. This big step happens as scientists try hard to make the spacecraft’s mission last longer maybe up to ten more years. Getting Voyager 1’s tools working again is a big deal for space exploration, as it keeps going through space we’ve never seen before.

On June 13, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said that the four science tools on Voyager 1, which measure plasma waves magnetic fields, and particles in space between stars, are sending data again. This news matters a lot because these tools hadn’t worked since November 2023 when a computer problem made the spacecraft send back messed-up data.

VOYAGER 1 Issue

The main cause of the issue was identified as a damaged memory chip in one of the spacecraft’s computers. A specialized team of engineers worked hard to fix the problem by creating new software to avoid the broken chip. This work brought back communications with the spacecraft in April allowing the instruments to start working again. Linda Spilker, who leads the Voyager project science team, shared her joy about getting data again from all four of Voyager 1’s science tools.

She stressed how important this was pointing out that this is the first time anyone has updated flight software on a spacecraft in space between stars. “We haven’t done much with the flight software since before launch,” Spilker said during a June 13 meeting of the Outer Planets Analysis Group. Even though fixing the spacecraft’s computer is a big win Voyager 1 and its twin Voyager 2 still have big problems to deal with.

The main worry right now is the slow drop in power levels. Each spacecraft loses about four watts of power every year. This happens because their plutonium-238 power supplies decay and the thermocouples that turn the heat from that decay into usable power get worse. To handle this power drop, controllers had to switch off systems they didn’t need. This includes heaters that used to keep instruments and other parts warm.

Because of this, the spacecraft is getting colder, which makes people worry about how stable its temperature is. Spilker talked about the two big problems: power and keeping the temperature right. She said that at some point, they’ll need to start turning off the science tools themselves to save power. But she’s still hopeful about what’s ahead for the spacecraft. She thinks Voyager 1 might keep working well into the 2030s. If the spacecraft makes it to 2035, it will be 200 astronomical units (AU) from the sun. That’s about 30 billion kilometers away.

Current Status of Voyager 1

As of today, Voyager 1 is about 24 billion kilometers from the sun, which is the record for human made object launched into space. The near-term goal of the Voyager project is to get to 2027 since this is when the mission will celebrate its golden anniversary of the Voyager 1 And 2 spacecraft’s launch. This is an important achievement not only for the mission of the spacecraft but also for other dedicated scientists, because the success of the mission working for more than three decades is incredible taking into account that it was expected on fly for several years.

The ability of Voyager 1 being back in delivering data was made known two days after the death of Ed Stone, a renowned personality in space science. It was Stone who acted as Voyager’s project scientist right from 1972 right up to his retirement in 2022. While on the job he charted a course known as the “Grand Tour” which helped navigate the spacecraft through the orbits of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune to date no other spacecraft has been able to achieve that. Stone was also a Caltech’s president from 1991 to 2001 which proved his effectiveness as a director and a leader in the scientific world.

Recalling the contributions of Stone, Spilker mentioned that he mainly used to talk about one shot in a million years when all the planets were in a position during the Voyager mission which was early of seventies. This alignment I believe enabled the spacecraft start its historical mission through the outer solar system which I believe is even to date.

Spilker also commented that both Voyagers still have rare shots in store for them and that in spirit Stone will also remains a part of Voyager as it moves forward with its journey into unknown. In conclusion, the mission has once again proved the fact that to achieve success, one has to be innovative and dedicated in each of the tasks it performs.

Onward and eight-light years beyond the very edge of our solar system the spacecraft keeps on traveling, embodying humanity’s spirit of curiosity and wanderlust, as well as its technical achievments. With a little bit of luck, Voyager 1 may continue to beam data from the beyond for several years, years which will only add to the magnificence of man’s greatest invention.

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