NASA has confirmed this that, after a break in communications with Voyager 1 in late October, the spacecraft has regained its voice and resumed normal operations.
Voyager unexpectedly turned off its primary radio transmitter, known as the X-band, before turning on its much weaker S-band transmitter in October.
The interstellar spacecraft is currently about 15.5 billion miles (25.4 billion kilometers) from Earth, and the S-band has not been used for more than 40 years.
Communication between NASA and Voyager 1 was erratic at times, and the switch to the lower band prevented the Voyager mission team from downloading scientific data and information about the spacecraft’s status.
NASA RECONNECTS THE INTERSTELLAR VOYAGER 1 SPACECRAFT USING TECHNOLOGY NOT USED IN DECADES
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is depicted in this artist’s concept, traveling through interstellar space, or the space between stars, which it entered in 2012. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Earlier this month, the team was able to reactivate the X-band transmitter and resume data collection from the four operations scientific instruments aboard Voyager 1.
Now that data can be collected and communications have resumed, technicians are completing a few remaining tasks to return Voyager 1 to the state it was in before the problem occurred. One task is to reset the system that synchronizes Voyager 1’s three onboard computers.
The S-band was activated by the spacecraft’s fault protection system when engineers activated a heater on Voyager 1. The fault protection system determined that the probe did not have enough power and automatically shut down systems that were not needed to fly the spacecraft. continue to provide power to critical systems.
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NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, shown in this illustration, has been exploring our solar system since 1977, along with its twin, Voyager 2. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
But in doing so, the probes disabled all nonessential systems except scientific instruments, NASA said, disabling the X-band and activating the S-band, which uses less power.
Voyager 1 had not used S-band to communicate with Earth since 1981.
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This illustration provided by NASA shows Earth’s most distant spacecraft, Voyager 1. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California announced this week that Voyager 1’s four science instruments are back in service after a technical problem. (NASA via AP, file)
Voyager 1’s odyssey began in 1977, when the spacecraft and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched on a tour of the solar system’s gas giant planets.
After sending back dazzling postcard images of Jupiter’s giant red spot and Saturn’s glittering rings, Voyager 2 hopped to Uranus and Neptune. Meanwhile, Voyager 1 used Saturn as a gravity catapult to fly past Pluto.
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There are ten scientific instruments aboard each spacecraft, and according to NASA, four are currently being used to study the particles, plasma and magnetic fields in interstellar space.
