Earlier this year, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, which is over 22 billion kilometers of the Earth, began to send NASA some strange data. Now, space agency engineers have identified and resolved the problem, and no they weren’t aliens.
The strange data came from Voyager 1’s attitude control and articulation system, which is responsible for maintaining the spacecraft’s orientation while moving. through interstellar space regarding 60,000 km/h.
Telemetry data suggested that Voyager 1 was reporting information regarding its location and orientation that did not match the true location and orientation of the spacecraft. The probe was otherwise behaving normally, as was its sister. Voyager 2. Both spacecraft launched in the summer of 1977, with Voyager 1 becoming the most remote object created by humans in the universe.
“The spacecraft are nearly 45 years old, much older than mission planners anticipated. We are also in interstellar space, a high-radiation environment that no spacecraft has ever flown in before,” said Suzanne Dodd, chief of Voyager projects, when the problem arose for the first time.
“A mystery like this is normal. at this stage of the Voyager mission,” Dodd added.
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Ahora, los ingenieros de la NASA se han dado cuenta de por qué el sistema de control y articulación de actitud estaba enviando datos incomprensibles. El sistema comenzó a enviar la telemetría a través de una computadora defectuosa a bordo de la Voyager 1, y la computadora corrompió la información antes de que pudiera leerse en la Tierra.
El equipo de la Voyager 1 simplemente hizo que la nave comenzara a enviar datos a la computadora correcta, corrigiendo el problema. Para empezar, no están seguros de por qué el sistema comenzó a enviar la telemetría a la computadora defectuosa.
“Estamos felices de recuperar la telemetría”, dijo Dodd en un comunicado del JPL of at NASA. “We’ll do a full read of the AACS memory and see everything it’s been up to. That will help us try to diagnose the problem that caused the telemetry issue in the first place.”
The good news is that the faulty computer doesn’t seem to have made and HAL 9000 with Voyager 1, the space probe is in good health. On September 5, the mission will be 45 years old, a milestone achieved by Voyager 2 on August 20.
Since the subject of telemetry was first made public, the Voyager 1 has traveled anothers 160.000.000 kilometers. It’s a small technical fix for humans, but one that ensures we can keep track of the intrepid space probe as it continues its extraordinary journey into deep space.
