This artists concept reveals NASAs Voyager spacecraft against a field of stars in the darkness of space. The 2 Voyager spacecraft are taking a trip further and farther away from Earth, on a journey to interstellar area, and will ultimately circle the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechEngineers have actually identified a damaged memory issue in Voyager 1s onboard computer, preventing data transmission to Earth.Engineers have confirmed that a small portion of damaged memory in one of the computers aboard NASAs Voyager 1 has actually been triggering the spacecraft to send unreadable science and engineering data to Earth considering that last November. Called the flight information subsystem (FDS), the computer is accountable for product packaging the probes science and engineering information before the telemetry modulation system (TMU) and radio transmitter send out the data to Earth.In early March, the team released a “poke” command to trigger the spacecraft to return a readout of the FDS memory, that includes the computer systems software application code as well as variables (worths utilized in the code that can alter based upon commands or the spacecrafts status). Using the readout, the team has verified that about 3% of the FDS memory has been corrupted, avoiding the computer from performing normal operations.The team suspects that a single chip accountable for storing part of the affected portion of the FDS memory isnt working. Engineers cant identify with certainty what caused the issue. 2 possibilities are that the chip could have been struck by an energetic particle from area or that it merely might have broken after 46 years.Although it might take weeks or months, engineers are optimistic they can find a method for the FDS to operate typically without the unusable memory hardware, which would enable Voyager 1 to start returning science and engineering data again.Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager spacecraft zipped Saturn and Jupiter, and Voyager 2 zipped Uranus and Neptune. They are both exploring interstellar area, outside the bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun, called the heliosphere. Voyager 2 continues to operate generally.
