The team will continue to monitor the signal closely while continuing to determine whether the invalid data is coming directly from the AACS or other systems involved in the production and transmission of the telemetry data. Until the nature of the problem is better understood, the team cannot predict whether this could affect how long it takes the spacecraft to collect and transmit scientific data.
Voyager 1 is currently 14.5 billion miles (23.3 billion km) from Earth, and it would take light 20 hours 33 minutes to make that difference. This means that it takes about two days to send a message to Voyager 1 and get a response—the usual delay for mission teams.
“Puzzles like this are somewhat similar to the current path of the Voyager mission,” said Susan Dodd, project manager for Voyager 1 and 2 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “The spacecraft is about 45 years old, far beyond what mission planners expected. We are also in interstellar space – a highly radioactive environment where no spacecraft has ever flown before. So there are some big challenges for the engineering team. But I think that if there is a way to solve this problem with AACS, our team will find it.”
It’s possible the team didn’t find the source of the flaw, Dodd said, and would adapt to it. If they find the source, they may be able to fix the problem through a software change or perhaps by using one of the redundant hardware systems of the spacecraft.
This isn’t the first time the Voyager team has relied on spare hardware: In 2017, the early Voyager 1 thrusters showed signs of wear and tear, so engineers pointed out Switch to another set of boosters originally used during spaceships planet meeting. The machines worked, despite not being used for 37 years.
Voyager 1’s twin, Voyager 2 (currently 12.1 billion miles, or 19.5 billion km, from Earth), continues to function normally.
The two Voyagers launched in 1977, and have been in operation for longer than mission planners thought, the only two spacecraft to collect data in interstellar space. The information they provide from this area helps push files a deeper understanding Heliosphere, the diffuse barrier that the sun creates around the planets in our solar system.
Each spacecraft generates about 4 watts less electrical power per year, which limits the number of systems the spacecraft can operate. The mission engineering team has Turn off various subsystems and heaters For energy conservation of scientific instruments and vital systems. No science instruments have yet been decommissioned due to a power failure, and the Voyager team is working to keep the two spacecraft operational and bring the unique science back beyond 2025.
As engineers continue to work on the mysteries presented to them by Voyager 1, mission scientists will continue to search for Maximize your data Get down from the spaceship’s unique point of view.
More about mission
The Voyager spacecraft were built by JPL, which continues to operate both. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The Voyager mission is part of NASA’s Heliophysical Systems Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit:
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