NEW DELHI: After 5 months of silence, Nasa‘s Voyager 1 spacecraft is again in contact with Earth, having overcome a perplexing communication glitch via an modern repair. The probe, which is at present 15 billion miles away from Earth, skilled points with its flight information system’s telemetry modulation unit in November 2023, leading to indecipherable information transmissions.
The communication downside was marked by a repeating sample of indecipherable code being despatched again to Earth, rendering the info from the spacecraft’s science devices and engineering methods unusable.Nonetheless, on April 20, Nasa engineers efficiently obtained coherent information indicating that Voyager 1 is in good well being and functioning appropriately.
Linda Spilker, the Voyager undertaking scientist on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), expressed aid and anticipation for the long run, saying, “At this time was an important day for Voyager 1. We’re again in communication with the spacecraft. And we sit up for getting science information again.”
The decision got here after the mission workforce employed a way of trial and error, resulting in the invention {that a} single chip within the flight information system’s reminiscence was not functioning appropriately. The chip’s failure, probably as a result of put on and tear or injury from a high-energy particle, led to three% of the system’s reminiscence being corrupted.
Unable to restore the chip instantly, engineers developed a workaround by relocating the affected code to different components of the system’s reminiscence. This intricate course of required adjusting the code to make sure that all the system might proceed to perform cohesively.
By April 18, the mandatory instructions had been despatched to Voyager 1 to reassign the code. Two days later, the workforce confirmed the success of their efforts after they obtained a response from the spacecraft. This success marks one other milestone for Voyager 1, which, together with its twin Voyager 2, has been exploring house since 1977, far exceeding its unique five-year mission plan.
As engineers proceed to work on relocating different affected components of the system’s software program, they continue to be optimistic concerning the continued operation of the spacecraft. Suzanne Dodd, Voyager Challenge Supervisor, mirrored on the continued journey, “We by no means know for positive what’s going to occur with the Voyagers, however it continuously amazes me after they simply maintain going. We’ve had many anomalies, and they’re getting tougher. However we’ve been lucky thus far to recuperate from them. And the mission retains going. And youthful engineers are coming onto the Voyager workforce and contributing their data to maintain the mission going.”
The communication downside was marked by a repeating sample of indecipherable code being despatched again to Earth, rendering the info from the spacecraft’s science devices and engineering methods unusable.Nonetheless, on April 20, Nasa engineers efficiently obtained coherent information indicating that Voyager 1 is in good well being and functioning appropriately.
Linda Spilker, the Voyager undertaking scientist on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), expressed aid and anticipation for the long run, saying, “At this time was an important day for Voyager 1. We’re again in communication with the spacecraft. And we sit up for getting science information again.”
The decision got here after the mission workforce employed a way of trial and error, resulting in the invention {that a} single chip within the flight information system’s reminiscence was not functioning appropriately. The chip’s failure, probably as a result of put on and tear or injury from a high-energy particle, led to three% of the system’s reminiscence being corrupted.
Unable to restore the chip instantly, engineers developed a workaround by relocating the affected code to different components of the system’s reminiscence. This intricate course of required adjusting the code to make sure that all the system might proceed to perform cohesively.
By April 18, the mandatory instructions had been despatched to Voyager 1 to reassign the code. Two days later, the workforce confirmed the success of their efforts after they obtained a response from the spacecraft. This success marks one other milestone for Voyager 1, which, together with its twin Voyager 2, has been exploring house since 1977, far exceeding its unique five-year mission plan.
As engineers proceed to work on relocating different affected components of the system’s software program, they continue to be optimistic concerning the continued operation of the spacecraft. Suzanne Dodd, Voyager Challenge Supervisor, mirrored on the continued journey, “We by no means know for positive what’s going to occur with the Voyagers, however it continuously amazes me after they simply maintain going. We’ve had many anomalies, and they’re getting tougher. However we’ve been lucky thus far to recuperate from them. And the mission retains going. And youthful engineers are coming onto the Voyager workforce and contributing their data to maintain the mission going.”
