NASA's Voyager 1 Data Glitch Is Fixed by Engineers

 

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The probe was sending muddled information about its status from a crucial system.The problem has been fixed by engineers, but they are still looking for the cause.

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft's data has been improved by engineers.Despite functioning normally, Voyager 1's attitude articulation and control system (AACS), which keeps the probe's antenna pointed at Earth, began sending mission controllers muddled information about its health and activities earlier this year.As it continued to collect and return science data, the remainder of the probe appeared to be in good health as well.

Since then, the team has located the source of the muddled data: The telemetry data were being sent by the AACS through an onboard computer that was known to have stopped working years ago and had corrupted the data.

According to Suzanne Dodd, the project manager for Voyager, when they thought this was the problem, they decided to try a low-risk solution: directing the AACS to resume transferring data to the appropriate computer.

Engineers are still trying to figure out why the AACS started sending telemetry data to the wrong computer, but it probably got a bad command from another onboard computer.If that is the case, it would suggest that the spacecraft has a problem elsewhere. The team will keep looking for that underlying problem, but they don't think it will affect Voyager 1's long-term health. Dodd stated, "We're happy to have the telemetry back."We will conduct a readout of the AACS's entire memory and examine everything it has been doing.That will assist us in our efforts to identify the issue that led to the telemetry issue in the first place.So, we're cautiously optimistic, but we still need to do more research.

For 45 years, Voyager 1 and 2 have looked into our solar system. The region outside the heliopause, also known as the Sun's bubble of energetic particles and magnetic fields, is where both probes are currently located in interstellar space.

More Information About the Mission

JPL is a Pasadena-based division of Caltech that built and operates the Voyager spacecraft. The NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, which is supported by the Washington-based Science Mission Directorate's Heliophysics Division, includes the Voyager missions.