In May, the Voyager 1 probe, which had been in space for 45 years, suddenly began sending strange telemetry data back to Earth, but the spacecraft itself was operating normally, making it difficult for engineers to diagnose symptoms. Until recently, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that it had finally found the source of the fault and solved the garbled problem. It turned out that Voyager 1 suddenly sent telemetry data through the onboard computer that had been shut down many years ago.
In 1977, NASA launched the Voyager 1 probe with a mission to explore the outer solar system and interstellar space. In 1990, Voyager 1’s cameras were turned off to preserve power and data storage space, and on August 25, 2012, it became the first man-made object to enter interstellar space, and it is still collecting interstellar space and magnetic fields beyond the heliopause. , interstellar gas, etc.
However, when you get older, there will always be problems with your body. The Voyager 1 probe, which has been sailing in space for 45 years, began to have problems one after another. For example, in May of this year, NASA discovered that the attitude control system of Voyager 1 (attitude articulation and control system). , AACS) started sending back meaningless data that looked completely random.
AACS is responsible for steering Voyager 1 as it travels through interstellar space at about 61,100 kilometers per hour, and keeps Voyager 1’s high gain antenna precisely pointed at Earth to send data home, thanks to the probe It seems to be working fine, so NASA only said at the time that it would try to fix it, and if it doesn’t fix it, get used to it.
Now the Jet Propulsion Laboratory team has announced that it has found the cause of the failure, from the AACS suddenly somehow processing messages through a long-defunct onboard computer, and the team has sent an order telling the AACS to switch back to the correct computer to send the data. It’s unclear why Voyager 1 suddenly made this move, and it may mean that there are problems elsewhere in the probe, but it doesn’t seem to jeopardize the mission at the moment.
(Source of the first image: Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
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