July 1, 2024 - After a 7-month struggle, NASA has successfully repaired the data transmission system on its Voyager 1 spacecraft, restoring usable signals from all four scientific instruments.
Engineers Resolve Communications Glitch
Voyager 1 began transmitting nonsensical data in November 2023 due to a technical issue with one of its three onboard computers. Engineers partially fixed the problem in April by sending commands to Voyager 1's Flight Data System (FDS), which packages scientific data for transmission back to Earth. This prompted Voyager 1 to send its first legible message in four months, allowing the engineering team to pinpoint the source of the problem.
After identifying the glitch as originating in a computer chip, the team devised a solution to adjust the FDS's software code from billions of miles away and began incrementally restoring functionality. Two of the spacecraft's four science instruments resumed providing legible data in May, and with continued fine-tuning, all four are now fully operational. These instruments collect information on plasma waves, magnetic fields, and particles in interstellar space.
Ongoing Maintenance and Challenges
While Voyager 1's data system is now functioning, the engineering team has additional work to do before the spacecraft is fully operational. For instance, they need to re-sync the timing software, which allows all three onboard computers to process commands simultaneously. The team will also perform maintenance on the Digital Tape Recorder, which stores data for the plasma wave instrument.
Voyager 1 is currently traveling through interstellar space, over 15 billion miles from Earth. This extreme distance means that engineers must wait 22.5 hours for their commands to reach the spacecraft and another 22.5 hours for a response. Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, have been in space for nearly 47 years, making them NASA's longest-lived and furthest-traveling human-made objects.