Voyager 1 has been traversing the solar system for 45 years. Today, after its long journey through space since its launch in 1977, it is almost 23.5 billion kilometers from Earth in the “interstellar medium”, beyond the influence of the Sun, and continues to move away from the solar system at about 60,000 kilometers per hour.
Despite its high age, everything seems to indicate that Voyager 1 is still working properly. However, NASA engineers working on this spacecraft have recently been baffled by the probe’s articulation and control system, which is generating data that appears to be completely random.
AACS Attitude Articulation and Control System
Specifically, scientists have found that the spacecraft successfully receives and executes commands from Earth, but readings from the probe’s attitude control and articulation system (AACS), which keeps the spacecraft and its antenna in the correct orientation. adequately, they do not reflect what actually happens aboard Voyager 1.
Apparently, the AACS is sending the spacecraft’s handlers junk telemetry data.
“A mystery like this is a common occurrence at this stage of the Voyager mission,” Suzanne Dodd said in a statement, director of the Voyager 1 project and its twin, Voyager 2, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
“Both spacecraft are nearly 45 years old, which is well beyond what mission planners had anticipated,” Dodd added. “We’re also in interstellar space, a high-radiation environment that no spacecraft has ever flown in before.”
NASA’s statement does not specify when the problem began or how long it has lasted.
Talk to Voyager 1, a long process
The Voyager team is still examining the strange data, though it’s a slow process, as it currently takes 20 hours and 33 minutes for a signal from Earth to reach Voyager 1; receiving the response from the spacecraft carries the same delay.
At the moment, the engineers are not sure if the problem comes directly from that system or from another part of the ship.
The twin Voyager 2 probe, also launched in 1977, is behaving normally, according to NASA.
According to various scientific media, there is a possibility that NASA will not find the source of the problem and will have to make changes to the software or use one of the spacecraft’s backup systems, something that was already done in 2017.
However, NASA is more optimistic. “There are some big challenges for the engineering team,” Dodd said. “But I think if there is a way to solve this problem with AACS, our team will find it,” she added.
Edited by Felipe Espinosa Wang.