NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, which has been journeying by way of area for over 47 years, just lately skilled a short interruption in communication. On October 24, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California regained contact with Voyager 1. The interruption was brought on by a shutdown of one in all its transmitters, probably triggered by the spacecraft’s fault safety system, which powers down sure programs when energy utilization is simply too excessive. This incident has raised new challenges for NASA, as speaking with a spacecraft over 15 billion miles away presents distinctive technical difficulties.
Fault Safety System Triggers Shutdown
Engineers recognized the fault safety system because the possible trigger behind the transmitter shutdown. This method conserves power by turning off non-essential gear, which ensures the spacecraft can proceed its mission regardless of restricted energy reserves. On October 16, JPL engineers despatched a command to activate a heater on Voyager 1. Nonetheless, as a substitute of responding as anticipated, the command appeared to overload the system. By October 18, indicators from Voyager 1 had light, indicating a difficulty had occurred.
Communication Restored however Challenges Persist
After a collection of makes an attempt, the group found that Voyager 1’s fault safety system had switched the spacecraft to a second, lower-power transmitter. The spacecraft’s normal communication system, generally known as the X-band, had been disabled, inflicting Voyager to modify to an S-band transmitter. The S-band transmitter, which had not been used since 1981, operates at a unique frequency and transmits a weaker sign. This change difficult the reconnection efforts, however engineers on the Deep Area Community managed to find Voyager’s faint S-band sign on October 19.
NASA’s Plan to Stabilise Voyager 1
NASA engineers have opted to keep away from switching again to the X-band transmitter till they will decide what activated the fault safety system. On October 22, they confirmed that the S-band is steady and at the moment are analysing knowledge to determine the foundation trigger. With over 47 years of service, each Voyager 1 and its twin Voyager 2 stay the one probes working in interstellar area. Their superior age presents technical challenges, however NASA’s group stays dedicated to sustaining contact with these historic spacecraft as they proceed their journey by way of the cosmos.