NASA engineers have identified the cause of a technical problem plaguing the Voyager 1 space probe, preventing it from sending readable scientific and technical data to Earth since last November. The fault affects a small part of the memory of the flight data system (FDS) of the on-board computer, responsible for preparing scientific and technical data packets before the telemetry modulation unit (TMU) and radio transmitter send them to our planet.
The problem with Voyager 1: the probe was transmitting incomprehensible messages
In March, engineers sent a diagnostic command to the probe, obtaining a readout of the FDS’s memory, which includes both the computer’s software code and variables that can change based on commands received or the state of the probe. The analysis found that approximately 3% of the FDS’s memory is corrupted, preventing the computer from functioning normally.
The team suspects that the malfunction is due to a single chip, used to store some of the now corrupted data. It is not yet clear what caused the problem, but two hypotheses are under consideration: the chip could have been hit by an energetic particle from space or it could have simply worn out after 46 years of service.
Search for a solution for the probe
Despite the difficulty of the problem, engineers are optimistic that a solution can be found that allows the FDS to operate normally even without the inoperable memory hardware. This could allow Voyager 1 to resume sending scientific and technical data to Earth in the coming weeks or months.
Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 along with its twin Voyager 2. Both probes flew by Saturn and Jupiter, while Voyager 2 also reached Uranus and Neptune. Currently, both probes are in interstellar space, outside the bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun, known as the heliosphere. Voyager 2 continues to operate without problems.
