Traveling billions of kilometers from Earth into interstellar space, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, 15 billion miles away, has once again established communication with Earth, albeit with a faint signal.
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NASA successfully reestablished contact with Voyager-1 on October 24 after a brief interruption caused by the activation of its fault protection system.
On October 16, the flight team sent a command to activate one of the spacecraft’s heaters. Although Voyager 1 had enough power for the heater, the command triggered its fault protection system. The team discovered the problem when the Deep Space Network could no longer detect Voyager 1’s signal on October 18.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California oversees communications with Voyager 1 through the Deep Space Network. According to media reports, when the JPL team sends commands, Voyager 1 responds by transmitting engineering data, which allows the team to assess how the spacecraft responds.
This exchange takes about two days – about 23 hours for the command to travel more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) to Voyager 1 and another 23 hours for the data to return to Earth. On October 16, the flight team sent a command to activate one of the spacecraft’s heaters.
Although Voyager 1 had enough power to operate the heater, the command inadvertently triggered its fault protection system. The team became aware of the issue when the Deep Space Network failed to detect Voyager 1’s signal on October 18.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California is responsible for managing communications with Voyager 1 through the Deep Space Network. When the JPL team sends commands, Voyager 1 transmits engineering data in response, allowing the team to evaluate the spacecraft’s responses. This exchange takes about two days – about 23 hours for the command to travel more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) to Voyager 1 and another 23 hours for the data to return to Earth.
Voyagers 1 and 2 have been operating for over 47 years and are the only two spacecraft currently operating in interstellar space. Their advanced age has increased the frequency and complexity of technical issues, posing new challenges for the mission engineering team.
