NASA revives Voyager 1 spacecraft from 15 billion miles away

Voyager 1 ventures deep into interstellar space. But recently, this aging spacecraft faced a quiet challenge.

After a brief lull, the distant spacecraft reached Earth again on October 24.

On October 16, Voyager 1’s fault protection system deployed, a safety measure intended to preserve the spacecraft’s limited power. This unexpected action caused a disruption in communications, leaving the mission team unsure of its status.

According to NASA, one of the spacecraft’s radio transmitters is malfunctioning and engineers are investigating the cause. The transmitter was automatically disabled by the spacecraft’s fault protection system.

The spacecraft’s automated system protects itself by turning off unnecessary systems.

Unexpected ending

The flight team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory sprang into action, analyzing the telemetry data and devising a strategy to restore communications.

The flight team transmits command strings to Voyager 1 via the Deep Space Network and analyzes the spacecraft’s response.

This return communication takes almost two days. A single signal travels 15 billion miles from Earth, taking nearly 23 hours to reach Voyager 1 and another 23 hours to return.

On October 16, a routine command led to an unexpected shutdown of the spacecraft’s systems. It was intended to activate one of the spacecraft’s heating elements.

“Although Voyager 1 should have had sufficient power to operate the heater, the command activated the fault protection system. The team learned of the problem when the Deep Space Network failed to detect Voyager 1’s signal on October 18. NASA blog noted.

The spacecraft usually communicates with Earth via its X-band radio transmitter.

The error protection system reduced the data transmission rate of the X-band transmitter to save energy. This change in data rate altered the specific X-band signal that the Deep Space Network was tuned to, making it difficult to detect Voyager 1’s signal.

“Engineers found the signal later that day and Voyager 1 appeared to be otherwise in a stable condition as the team began investigating what had happened,” it added.

Activation of the S-band in Voyager 1

However, the problem didn’t end there. Voyager 1 fell silent again on October 19.

The flight team believed the spacecraft’s fault protection system activated two more times, disabling the X-band transmitter altogether.

A crucial decision was made: switch to the S-band transmitter, a backup system that had not been used for more than forty years.

This S-band transmitter works on less current and transmits a significantly weaker signal.

Despite the challenges posed by distance and weaker signal, the Deep Space Network successfully detected the S-band signal.

The primary focus now is on collecting critical data to diagnose the root cause of the fault protection system activation and restore Voyager 1 to normal operating mode.

Voyager 1 and 2 are the only spacecraft to explore interstellar space. The increasing age of the spacecraft leads to a higher number of component failures and anomalies.

It should be noted that Voyager 1 has experienced communication problems several times this year alone.