Trouble with Voyager 1: Unable to transmit scientific data from interstellar space

NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is experiencing trouble while traveling outside the solar system. The spacecraft continues its journey across the solar system, but is unable to send scientific data back to Earth.

NASA said in an update that engineers are still working to resolve Voyager 1’s data issues.

“We can talk to the spacecraft, and the spacecraft can hear us, but given the incredible distance the spacecraft is from Earth, the process takes a long time. ” JPL said. This spacecraft holds the record for being the farthest man-made object ever.

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What’s wrong with Voyager 1?

The problem lies in one of Voyager 1’s three computers, called the Flight Data System (FDS). According to NASA, it receives and executes commands sent from Earth.

However, the FDS is not communicating properly with one of the probe’s subsystems called the Telemetry Modulation Unit (TMU). This halts scientific activities and no scientific or engineering data is sent to Earth.

According to NASA, the FDS is designed to collect not only data from scientific instruments, but also engineering data about the health and condition of the spacecraft. That information is then combined into a single data “package” that is sent back to Earth by the TMU. Data is sent in binary format of 1’s and 0’s.

The problem, which started last December, persists after the team tried to restart the FDS to return it to the state it was in before the problem started, but the spacecraft is still not returning usable data.

What is Voyager 1?

Voyager 1 was launched by NASA on September 5, 1977 to study the outer planets of our solar system. This provided unprecedented insight into Jupiter and Saturn. Its iconic image, the “Pale Blue Dot,” captured Earth from a record distance in 1990, depicting our planet as a tiny dot in the vastness of space.

Voyager 1 officially entered interstellar space in 2012, becoming the first human-built object. It continues its journey with a golden record containing sounds and images representing the diversity of the Earth, and a time capsule that holds the possibility of an encounter with extraterrestrial life.