Voyager 1 is the spacecraft that holds the record for the distance reached from Earth, with more than 21 million kilometers, as well as the time spent in operation, with 45 years in space. However, it has recently presented a problem that has scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) baffled.
Voyager 1 launched in 1977, managed to leave our solar system in 12 years and entered interstellar space in 2012. Despite its advanced age and being millions of kilometers from Earth, the probe continues to send back more scientific data that reveal information about galaxies of unknown size.
As revealed by a report issued by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, despite its optimal operation, the readings of the Attitude Articulation and Control System (AACS) do not coincide with the movement and direction of the probe, which indicating that it might be “confused” about its position in space.
According to the information, Voyager 1 continues to execute the commands it receives and its signal is still clear, but the telemetry data is inconsistent, as if it were chosen randomly, so it does not “reflect what is really happening on board.” .
NASA says the Voyager project staff will investigate the problem and try to fix or accommodate it. A slow process because a signal from Earth currently takes 20 hours and 33 minutes to reach the probe, unfavorable conditions for diagnosing a failure, since receiving the response from the spacecraft entails the same delay.
At this stage, it is impossible to know if this issue will impact Voyager 1’s operation or if it could be fixed if necessary. However, the fact that safe mode, which limits his abilities, doesn’t turn on automatically bodes well.
Until the nature of the problem is better understood, the team cannot predict whether this could affect the time it takes for the spacecraft to collect and transmit science data.
– Report issued by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Suzanne Dodd, Project Manager at Voyager 1 and 2, notes in the statement that “a mystery like this is normal at this stage of the Voyager mission” and that both she and his team hope to discover what is driving Earth’s robot emissary to send out junk data.
The Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes were launched in 1977 and have both navigated beyond the boundaries of the solar system ever since. In addition, they crossed the heliopause, the dynamic limit whose distance and composition can vary depending on the activity of the sun, in August 2012 and November 2018, respectively. Since then, both travel through the interstellar medium.
Source: Okchicas
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