The NASA Voyager 1 spacecraft, shown in the concept of this artist traveling through space against a field of stars, has been exploring our solar system since 1977, along with its twin, Voyager 2. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
While the Voyager 1 spacecraft continues to return scientific data and operate normally, the mission team is looking for the source of the system data problem.
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft team is trying to solve a mystery: The interstellar explorer, currently more than 14 billion miles from Earth, appears to be functioning normally, receiving and executing commands from Earth, along with collecting and returning scientific data. But the readings from the Probe Articulation and Position Control (AACS) system do not reflect exactly what is actually happening on board.
AACS controls the orientation of the 45-year-old spacecraft. Among other tasks, it keeps the high-gain antenna of Voyager 1 pointed directly at the Earth, which allows it to send data home. All indications are that the AACS is still working, but the telemetry data it returns is invalid. For example, the data may appear randomly generated or may not reflect a possible state in which AACS may be.
The problem has not triggered any on-board fault protection systems designed to put the spacecraft in “safe mode” – a condition in which only basic operations are performed, which gives engineers time to diagnose the problem. The Voyager 1 signal has not weakened either, suggesting that the high-gain antenna remains in its prescribed Earth orientation.
An artistic concept depicting one of NASA’s Voyager twins. The most distant and longest-lived spacecraft of mankind will celebrate 45 years in August and September 2022. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
The team will continue to monitor the signal closely as it continues to determine whether invalid data comes directly from AACS or another system involved in the production and transmission of telemetry data. Until the nature of the problem is better understood, the team cannot predict whether this could affect how long the spacecraft can collect and transmit scientific data.
Voyager 1 is currently 14.5 billion miles (23.3 billion kilometers) from Earth, and it takes light 20 hours and 33 minutes to travel that distance. This means that it takes approximately two days to send a message to Voyager 1 and receive a response – a delay that the mission team is well accustomed to.
“A mystery like this is kind of normal for the course at this stage of the Voyager mission,” said Susanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager 1 and 2 at NASA’s Southern California Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “The spacecraft are almost 45 years old, which is far beyond what the mission planned. We are also in interstellar space, a high-radiation environment in which no spacecraft has flown before. So there are some big challenges for the engineering team. But I think if there is a way to solve this problem with AACS, our team will find it. “
The most remote and longest-lived spacecraft of mankind, Voyager 1 and 2, celebrated 40 years of work and research in August / September 2017. In this panel presentation, hear behind-the-scenes stories from original and current mission team members as they describe engineering. challenges and important scientific achievements of the mission. This program was enrolled in the JPL on August 24, 2017. Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The team may not find the source of the anomaly and instead adapt to it, Dodd said. If they find the source, they may be able to solve the problem through software changes or potentially by using one of the spacecraft’s redundant hardware systems.
This will not be the first time the Voyager team has relied on backup hardware: in 2017, Voyager 1’s main engines showed signs of degradation, so engineers switched to another set of pushers that were originally used during the planet’s collisions. the spaceship. These pushers worked, although they had not been used for 37 years.
Voyager 1’s twin, Voyager 2 (currently 12.1 billion miles or 19.5 billion kilometers from Earth), continues to operate normally.
Launched in 1977, both Voyagers have worked much longer than planned, and are the only spacecraft to collect data in interstellar space. The information they provide from this region has helped to better understand the heliosphere, the diffuse barrier that the Sun creates around the planets in our solar system.
Each spacecraft produces about 4 watts less electricity per year, limiting the number of systems the spacecraft can operate. The mission’s engineering team has shut down various subsystems and heaters to conserve power for scientific instruments and critical systems. Scientific tools have not yet been ruled out as a result of declining power, and the Voyager team is working to keep the two spacecraft operational and bring back unique science after 2025.
As the engineers continue to work on solving the mystery presented to them by Voyager 1, the scientists on the mission will continue to make the most of the data coming from the unique perspective of the spacecraft.
More about the mission
The Voyager spacecraft was built by JPL, which continues to work with both. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena. The Voyager missions are part of NASA’s Heliophysics Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Directorate of Scientific Missions in Washington.
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