Voyager 1 resumes science data transmission after computer glitch

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft, currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth, has resumed steadily sending back scientific data from uncharted territory after a computer error sidelined the historic mission seven months ago. The probe had stopped communicating coherently with mission control in November 2023 due to a repeating pattern of indecipherable code sent from billions of miles away.

A creative solution by the Voyager mission team restored communication with the spacecraft, and engineering data began streaming back to mission control in April, informing the health team and the operational status of the spacecraft. However, data from Voyager 1's four science instruments, which study plasma waves, magnetic fields and particles, remained elusive. This information is crucial for showing scientists how particles and magnetic fields change as the probe flies farther.

On May 19, the Voyager team sent a command to the spacecraft to begin returning science data. Two of the instruments responded, but recovering data from the other two took time and the instruments required recalibration. All four instruments are now sending back usable science data, according to an update shared by NASA on June 13.

The cause of the communication problem was determined to be a corruption of 3% of the flight data system memory. A single chip responsible for storing part of the system's memory, including some of the computer's software code, malfunctioned, and the loss of the chip's code meant that Voyager 1's science and engineering data could not be retrieved. they can use Since there is no way to repair the chip, the team stored the affected chip code elsewhere in the system memory.

Voyager 1 is currently about 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, while its sister vehicle, Voyager 2, has traveled more than 12 billion miles (20 billion of kilometers) of the Earth. The twin probes were launched weeks apart in 1977, and after initially flying by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, their missions have extended to 46 years and counting. Both are in interstellar space and the only spacecraft operating beyond the heliosphere—the solar bubble of magnetic fields and particles that extends far beyond Pluto's orbit. As the only extensions of humanity outside the protective bubble of the heliosphere, the two probes are alone on their cosmic journeys as they travel in different directions.