After five months of returning garbled data, Voyager 1 is now transmitting clear health and status updates from nearly 24 billion kilometers away.
Voyager 1, launched in 1977 alongside its twin Voyager 2, holds the record for the farthest human-made object from Earth. Both probes ventured beyond our solar system, becoming the first to explore interstellar space.
However, in November 2023, mission controllers noticed a glitch in Voyager 1. While the spacecraft continued to receive commands from Earth, the data it sent back was nonsensical.
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) found that the issue was caused by a single malfunctioning chip in the Flight Data Subsystem (FDS).
This critical component acts as a cosmic data packer, preparing scientific and engineering information for its long journey home. Unfortunately, a portion of the FDS software resided on the faulty chip, rendering the transmitted data meaningless.
Replacing the chip from Earth was obviously out of the question, so the JPL team devised a solution: replacing the corrupt code in the FDS memory with a new string.
Because no single location could accommodate the entire code block, the team divided the affected code into smaller sections and then strategically placed them in different healthy locations within the FDS memory.
The process demanded rewriting internal references within the code, ensuring it knew where to find its missing pieces.
On 18th April, engineers sent the first segment of the relocated code – the portion responsible for engineering data – to Voyager 1. Then came a long wait, as the radio signals took 45 hours for the round trip.
Finally, on 20th April, Voyager 1 confirmed receipt and implementation of the code, sending back clear engineering data for the first time since November.
While the initial data confirms Voyager 1’s health, further work is needed to get the scientific instruments back online. The team is now focusing on relocating the remaining code sections, gradually restoring Voyager 1’s full scientific capabilities.
Voyager 1 is currently traveling at over 15km per second. Its primary mission was a five-year exploration of Jupiter and Saturn. However, the probe surpassed expectations, venturing beyond our solar system in 2012 to become the first human-made object in interstellar space.
Voyager 2, which continues its interstellar voyage in good health, is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune.
Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators that convert heat from decaying plutonium into electricity. As the plutonium decays, the power output gradually diminishes.
While NASA engineers have managed to extend the probes’ operations for years beyond initial projections, the question of how much longer they can continue their journey remains.
Tags: NASA engineers fix #24billionkm glitch
