The American Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, shared the joyful news that engineers were finally able to repair the malfunction that caused the Voyager 1 (Voyager 1) spacecraft to send strange data to Earth.
Dropping out of hibernation on Tuesday, Voyager 1 sent a burst of data to Earth that included the first view of the giant planet Uranus.
Remember that Voyager 1 is the most distant object ever created by man. On August 20, the probe celebrated the 45th anniversary of its launch. In May 2022, a problem arose with the probe – it started sending strange signals to Earth. However, NASA reported that all ship systems were operating normally.
After weeks of analysis, NASA announced the cause of the signal – it was a glitch in the probe’s computer. The space agency assured the public that Voyager 1 was still on course and still collecting data. But the strange signal had only served to raise more questions. Why was Voyager 1 sending signals to Earth if all systems were operating normally?
Engineers have been struggling to solve this mystery all summer, and now NASA has reported that it has solved the problem.
According to the press service, engineers have solved the problem, but are still looking for a cause. The team uncovered a source of distorted information: the AACS articulation and orientation control system began sending telemetry data through an on-board computer that was known to have stopped working some time ago. Many years and the computer have corrupted the information.
Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager, said when they suspected this, they decided to try a low-risk solution: have the AACS team resend the data to the correct computer.
Engineers don’t yet know why the AACS started sending telemetry data to the wrong computer – it probably received the wrong command generated by another on-board computer. If so, the problem may have originated elsewhere on the ship.
NASA stressed that the team will continue to search for the main problem, but it is unlikely to pose a long-term threat to the health of “Voyager-1”.
