NASA has revealed that it has re-established contact with the Voyager 1 spacecraft following a brief, nerve-wracking period of radio silence.
The spacecraft recently switched off one of its two radio transmitters, and experts are now on a mission to determine what caused it.
Voyagers 1 and 2 have been soaring through space for over 47 years and are the only two spacecraft operating in interstellar space. Their advanced age has led to increased technical issues and new challenges for the mission engineering team.
Scientists suspect the transmitter shut-off was triggered by the spacecraft’s fault protection system, which autonomously reacts to onboard problems.
According to NASA, if the spacecraft uses too much power, the fault protection will save energy by switching off non-essential systems.
This process usually takes a couple of days – nearly 23 hours for the command to travel more than 15 billion miles from Earth to the spacecraft, and another 23 hours for the data to return, reports the Manchester Evening News.
The issue came to light when the Deep Space Network failed to pick up Voyager 1’s signal on October 18. Typically, the spacecraft communicates with Earth using an X-band radio transmitter named after its specific frequency.
The flight team correctly guessed that the fault protection system had reduced the transmitter’s rate of sending back data. This mode uses less power from the spacecraft, but it also alters the X-band signal that the Deep Space Network needs to detect.
Engineers located the signal later that day, and Voyager 1 seemed stable as the team started investigating the incident. However, on October 19, communication seemed to cease completely.
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The flight team theorized that Voyager 1’s fault protection system had been triggered twice more, turning off the X-band transmitter and switching to a second radio transmitter known as the S-band. Although the S-band uses less power, Voyager 1 hasn’t used it to communicate with Earth since 1981.
It operates on a different frequency than the X-band transmitters, and its signal is significantly weaker. Due to the spacecraft’s distance, the flight team wasn’t sure if the S-band could be detected on Earth, but engineers with the Deep Space Network managed to locate it.
Instead of reactivating the X-band before identifying what set off the fault protection system, the team issued a command on October 22 to verify the functionality of the S-band transmitter. The team is now collecting data that will assist them in understanding what transpired and restoring Voyager 1 to its regular operations.
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