Pasadena, California – Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have successfully identified the cause of the communication issues plaguing the Voyager 1 probe for nearly five months, offering hope for the potential recovery of the spacecraft, which is now located 15 billion miles away from Earth.
After Voyager 1 started transmitting unreadable data to ground controllers on November 14, NASA was unable to decipher the information being sent back, despite the probe continuing to broadcast a steady signal. However, engineers eventually discovered that a small portion of corrupted memory in the Flight Data System (FDS) was the root cause of the problem, preventing normal operations.
The FDS plays a crucial role in packaging and relaying Voyager 1’s scientific and engineering data back to Earth. Approximately 3 percent of the FDS memory was found to be corrupted, impeding the computer from functioning properly. This presented one of the most serious challenges the Voyager mission has ever faced, given the spacecraft’s longevity and unprecedented distance from Earth.
Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched in 1977 and have traveled farther from Earth than any other spacecraft in history. Despite the age of the Voyagers, engineers utilized paper documents, memos, and blueprints to analyze the spacecraft’s design details and formulate a plan to address the communication issue.
In early March, engineers at JPL successfully uplinked a command to trigger a readout of the FDS memory, enabling them to identify the locations of the faulty memory. While the exact cause of the corrupted memory remains unknown, NASA suspects that a single chip storing part of the affected memory may have malfunctioned due to exposure to space particles or simply wear and tear over the 46-year-old spacecraft’s lifespan.
Due to the significant distance between Voyager 1 and Earth, troubleshooting efforts are complicated by the 22.5-hour one-way travel time for radio signals. Additionally, NASA must prioritize communication with Voyager 1 using its largest antennas, which are also in demand for other spacecraft missions.
Despite the challenges, engineers remain optimistic that they can restore the FDS to normal operation, allowing Voyager 1 to resume sending valuable science and engineering data back to Earth. While the process may take several weeks or months, the team is determined to find a solution and bring the spacecraft back to full functionality in the near future.