NASA’s Voyager 1 Reawakens After 15 Billion Miles, Powered by 1981 Technology
NASA’s 47-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft, now over 15 billion miles from Earth in interstellar space, recently resumed communication after a brief halt using a radio transmitter last activated in 1981. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California reconnected with the spacecraft on October 24 after losing contact on October 16.
The interruption began when one of Voyager 1’s transmitters shut down, likely triggered by the spacecraft’s fault protection system, designed to conserve power by deactivating certain systems when energy usage spikes. With each message taking approximately 23 hours to travel one way, NASA had to wait nearly two days to realize that Voyager 1’s response had been interrupted.
After investigating, NASA found that Voyager 1’s fault protection system had switched to a secondary, lower-power transmitter, the ‘S-band,’ which hasn’t been used since 1981. Typically, the spacecraft relies on its primary transmitter, the ‘X-band,’ but NASA opted not to immediately switch back, pending a full assessment of the risks that might have triggered the fault protection system.
Bruce Waggoner, Voyager’s mission assurance manager, explained, “Engineers are being cautious because they want to determine if there are any potential risks to reactivating the X-band.” In the meantime, JPL engineers sent a test message on October 22, which confirmed the S-band was operational when Voyager responded two days later. However, this solution is temporary, and engineers are working on a long-term fix.
Launched after its twin Voyager 2, Voyager 1 traveled a faster route, exiting the asteroid belt first and overtaking Voyager 2 by December 15, 1977. Voyager 1 has since become the first human-made object to enter interstellar space, crossing the heliosphere, where the Sun’s influence gives way to interstellar forces.
Throughout its journey, Voyager 1 has made key discoveries, including a thin ring around Jupiter, two of its moons—Thebe and Metis—and five additional moons along with a ring, the G-ring, around Saturn.
