A sign of hope and continuity comes from outer space. The probe Voyager 1 from the NASA has resumed transmitting scientific data from all its instruments for the first time since a computer malfunction last November. This news has been greeted with enthusiasm by scientists, who hope to keep the mission operational for another decade.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA announced that the probe’s 4 instruments, which measure plasma waves, magnetic fields and particles in interstellar space, have started sending data again. Two of the instruments were reactivated immediately after commands were sent to the probe on May 19, while the other 2 required further interventions to resume operations.
The instruments had been inactive since November 2023, when a computer malfunction on board the probe caused the sending of illegible data. A team of engineers traced the problem to a damaged memory chip in one of the probe’s computers and rewrote the software to avoid using that chip. The operation restored communications with the probe in April.
Now that the probe’s computer is working again, the key life-limiting factor of Voyager 1 and her twin, Voyager 2are the declining energy levels. Each probe loses about 4 watts a year, a combination of the decay of their supplies of plutonium-238 and the degradation of thermocouples that turn the heat from that decay into energy.
Controllers handled the power loss by shutting down nonessential systems, including heaters that had kept instruments and other components warm. So, the probe is getting cold, and the concern is both thermal and energy. At some point the mission will have to start shutting down the instruments themselves, but the probe could continue to operate perhaps into the next decade.
“With any luck, it may be possible to continue collecting data with Voyager into the 2030s.” has explained Linda Spilker, Voyager project scientist. If Voyager 1 arrives in 2035, it will be 200 astronomical units, or about 30 billion km, from the sun. It is currently more than 24 billion km from the Sun.”Right now, our goal is to get to 2027,” continued Spilker. “It will be the 50th anniversary of the launch of both Voyager probes“.
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