The engineering group for NASAs Voyager 1 spacecraft is attempting to fix a secret: The interstellar explorer, which is currently over 14 billion miles from Earth, seems working usually, getting and executing commands from Earth, in addition to gathering and returning science data. However readouts from the probes mindset expression and control system (AACS) dont properly reflect whats really occurring onboard.
The AACS controls the 45-year-old spacecrafts orientation. Amongst other jobs, it keeps Voyager 1s high-gain antenna pointed precisely at Earth, allowing it to send data house.
Amongst other jobs, it keeps Voyager 1s high-gain antenna pointed exactly at Earth, allowing it to send data house. An artist principle depicting one of NASAs twin Voyager spacecraft.” A mystery like this is sort of par for the course at this stage of the Voyager objective,” stated Suzanne Dodd, job manager for Voyager 1 and 2 at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. No science instruments have actually been turned off yet as a result of the lessening power, and the Voyager group is working to keep the two spacecraft operating and returning special science beyond 2025.
The Voyager spacecraft were developed by JPL, which continues to operate both.
The problem hasnt set off any onboard fault security systems, which are designed to put the spacecraft into “safe mode”– a state where only important operations are carried out, giving engineers time to detect a problem. Voyager 1s signal hasnt weakened, either, which suggests the high-gain antenna stays in its proposed orientation with Earth.
An artist principle illustrating one of NASAs twin Voyager spacecraft. Humanitys farthest and longest-lived spacecraft will commemorate 45 years in August and September 2022. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The team will continue to keep track of the signal carefully as they continue to determine whether the invalid data is coming straight from the AACS or another system associated with sending and producing telemetry data. Until the nature of the concern is better comprehended, the team can not expect whether this might impact how long the spacecraft can collect and send science information.
Voyager 1 is currently 14.5 billion miles (23.3 billion kilometers) from Earth, and it takes light 20 hours and 33 minutes to travel that distance. That indicates it takes approximately 2 days to send out a message to Voyager 1 and get an action– a delay the objective group is well accustomed to.
” A mystery like this is sort of par for the course at this phase of the Voyager objective,” stated Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager 1 and 2 at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “The spacecraft are both nearly 45 years old, which is far beyond what the mission planners anticipated. Were likewise in interstellar space– a high-radiation environment that no spacecraft have actually flown in before. There are some huge obstacles for the engineering group. I think if theres a method to fix this concern with the AACS, our team will find it.”
Its possible the group might not find the source of the anomaly and will rather adjust to it, Dodd stated. If they do discover the source, they may be able to solve the concern through software modifications or possibly by using among the spacecrafts redundant hardware systems.
It would not be the very first time the Voyager group has depended on backup hardware: In 2017, Voyager 1s main thrusters revealed signs of deterioration, so engineers changed to another set of thrusters that had actually originally been used during the spacecrafts planetary encounters. Those thrusters worked, despite having been unused for 37 years.
Voyager 1s twin, Voyager 2 (presently 12.1 billion miles, or 19.5 billion kilometers, from Earth), continues to operate usually.
Introduced in 1977, both Voyagers have actually run far longer than mission coordinators anticipated, and are the only spacecraft to gather data in interstellar area. The info they provide from this region has helped drive a much deeper understanding of the heliosphere, the scattered barrier the Sun produces around the worlds in our planetary system.
Each spacecraft produces about 4 less watts of electrical power a year, restricting the number of systems the craft can run. The objective engineering team has switched off different subsystems and heating systems in order to reserve power for science instruments and critical systems. No science instruments have actually been shut off yet as an outcome of the decreasing power, and the Voyager team is working to keep the 2 spacecraft operating and returning distinct science beyond 2025.
While the engineers continue to work at solving the mystery that Voyager 1 has presented them, the missions scientists will continue to take advantage of the data coming down from the spacecrafts unique vantage point.
More About the Mission
The Voyager spacecraft were constructed by JPL, which continues to run both. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena. The Voyager objectives belong of the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
