Communication Lost with 46-Year-Old Spacecraft Voyager 1

With its twin Voyager 2 in 1977 sent into space Voyager 1, He had been wandering in deep space for 46 years. However, being so old brought with it some problems. A statement made by NASA also showed that a new problem was experienced in the vehicle.

NASA shared an update about Voyager 1 on December 12. The agency announced that there was a problem in one of the vehicle’s three computers. This problem, Flight Data System (FDS) It started in the section named.

NASA engineers have been trying to solve the problem that caused the vehicle to lose communication with the Earth for 3 days.

According to the statements made by NASA, the spacecraft can receive and process commands coming from the Earth. However, the FDS cannot communicate with one of its subsystems called the Telemetry Modulation Unit (TMU). This problem too Voyager I was unable to send any data to Earth.which means he can’t communicate.

FDS was designed to collect both data on the health and condition of the spacecraft and data from science instruments. This information was then combined by the TMU into a data packet to be sent back to Earth. Note that the data is in the form of ones, zeros or binary codes.

According to NASA, TMU has recently been repetitive ones and zeros started sending. After evaluating all possibilities, the researchers determined that the source of the error was FDS. Last weekend, the team tried to reboot the FDS and restore it to its previous state, but the spacecraft still failed to send data. This revealed that the situation could be serious.

According to the agency’s statement Engineers are still working on solutions continues. However, there has been no new development for 3 days.

It takes 22 and a half hours for the data to arrive

Of course, we need to emphasize that it takes so long for the data to arrive that we cannot immediately understand whether the problem has been solved or not. Voyager 1 is currently exploring the outer reaches of our solar system and 24 billion kilometers away. This means that the signals reach Around 22 hours 34 minutes causes it to continue. So the team must wait at least 45 hours to send and receive signals.

Voyager 1 is one of the two longest-operating spacecraft in human history. The vehicle, which carries many messages from humanity in case it finds aliens, including greetings in 55 languages, passed to the outer region of our solar system in 2012. The first spacecraft to enter interstellar space He also managed to become one. During the years it remained operational, it was sending us signals from far away. I mean, it’s a miracle that he even survived this long.

We will wait and see if the current problem will be resolved. However, even if it is solved, experts say in 2025 He expected that he would finish his life. So either now or in a few years he will be alone in the darkness of space, billions of kilometers away.