Voyager 1 spacecraft calls home with a transmitter that hasn't been used since 1981

After recent communications problems, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has resorted to using a backup radio transmitter that has been inactive since 1981.

The interstellar explorer experienced a brief lull in communications after putting itself into a protective state to conserve energy. This was caused by a command sent on October 16 NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) – a global array of giant radio antennas – that command the spacecraft to turn on one of its heating elements.

The mission’s flight team first realized there was a problem with Traveler 1 on Oct. 18, when the spacecraft failed to respond to that command. The team later discovered that the spacecraft had turned off its primary X-band radio transmitter and instead switched to its secondary S-band radio transmitter, which the researchers said uses less power. a statement by NASA.

“The transmitter shutdown appears to have been caused by the spacecraft’s fault protection system, which responds autonomously to onboard problems,” NASA officials said in the statement. “The team is now working to gather information that will help them figure out what happened and return Voyager 1 to normal operation.”

Voyager 1’s fault protection system can activate for a number of reasons, such as if the spacecraft exceeds its power supply. When that happens, the spacecraft will shut down all non-essential systems to conserve energy and stay aloft.

After sending instructions to Voyager 1 on October 16, the team expected to receive data back from the spacecraft within a few days; Normally it takes about 23 hours for a commando to travel more than 15 billion miles to reach the spacecraft in interstellar space, and then another 23 hours for the flight team to board Earth to receive a signal back.

However, on October 18, the team was unable to detect Voyager 1’s signal on the X-band frequency that the DSN antennas were listening to. This was because the spacecraft’s fault protection system, to use less power, reduced the rate at which the radio transmitter sent data back. The flight team was able to locate a signal later that day, but on October 19, communications with Voyager 1 stopped completely when the X-band transmitter was turned off.

It is believed that the spacecraft’s fault protection system activated two more times, eventually causing it to switch to the S-band radio transmitter, which had not been used since 1981 before that date. Since the spacecraft is much further away in interstellar space today than 43 years ago, the flight team was not confident that a signal on the S-band frequency could be detected – mainly because it transmits a significantly weaker signal while consuming less power.

However, the team did not want to risk sending another signal to the X-band transmitter and reactivating the fault protection system. Instead, a command was sent to the S-band transmitter on October 22. Two days later, on October 24, the team was finally able to reconnect with Voyager 1.

Now the team will investigate what could have triggered the spacecraft’s failure protection system in the first place, as Voyager 1 should have had enough power to operate the heater. However, it can take weeks for operators to get the underlying issuethe statement said.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 ventured into interstellar space in 2012 and became the first spacecraft to cross the border of our planet. solar system. Are time deep room has taken a toll on his instruments and caused an increasing number technical problems. Earlier this year the team had to fix a problem communication error causing the spacecraft to emit gibberish.

While spacecraft can make this due to their old age and distance from Earth maintenance Challengingly, Voyager 1 continues to return vital data from beyond the solar system.