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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voyager 1 | 6/7 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1 | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T13:27:04.653048+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Communication issues === In May 2022, NASA reported that Voyager 1 had begun transmitting "mysterious" and "peculiar" telemetric data to the Deep Space Network (DSN). It confirmed that the operational status of the craft remained unchanged, but that the issue stemmed from the Attitude Articulation and Control System (AACS). NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory published a statement on May 18, 2022, that the AACS was functional but sending invalid data. The problem was eventually traced to the AACS sending its telemetry through a computer that had been non-operational for years, resulting in data corruption. In August 2022, NASA transmitted a command to the AACS to use another computer, which resolved the problem. An investigation into what caused the initial switch is underway, though engineers have hypothesized that the AACS had executed a bad command from another onboard computer. Voyager 1 began transmitting unreadable data on November 14, 2023. On December 12, 2023, NASA announced that Voyager 1's flight data system was unable to use its telemetry modulation unit, preventing it from transmitting scientific data. On March 24, 2024, NASA announced that they had made significant progress on interpreting the data being received from the spacecraft. Engineers reported in April 2024 that the failure was likely in a memory bank of the Flight Data Subsystem (FDS), one of the three onboard computer systems, probably from being struck by a high-energy particle or that it simply wore out due to age. The FDS was not communicating properly with the telemetry modulation unit (TMU), which began transmitting a repeating sequence of ones and zeros indicating that the system was in a stuck condition. After a reboot of the FDS, communications remained unusable. The probe still received commands from Earth, and was sending a carrier tone indicating it was operational. Commands sent to alter the modulation of the tone succeeded, confirming that the probe was still responsive. The Voyager team began developing a workaround, and on April 20 communication of health and status was restored by rearranging code away from the defective FDS memory chip, three percent of which was corrupted beyond repair. Because the memory is corrupt, the code needed to be relocated, but there was no place for an extra 256 bits; the spacecraft's total memory is only 68 kilobytes. To make it work, the engineers deleted unused code, for example the code used to transmit the data from Jupiter, that cannot be used at the current transmission rate. All the data from the "anomaly period" is lost. On May 22, NASA announced that Voyager 1 "resumed returning science data from two of its four instruments", with work towards the others ongoing. On June 13, NASA confirmed that the probe returns data from all four instruments. In October 2024, the probe turned off its X-band radio transmitter that was used for communications with the DSN. It was caused by the probe's fault protection system that was activated after NASA turned on one of the heaters on October 16. The fault protection system lowered the transmission rate, but the engineers were able to find the signal. Later, on October 19, the transmission stopped; the fault protection system was triggered once again and switched to the S-band transmitter, that was previously used in 1981. NASA reported that the team reactivated the X-band transmitter and then resumed collecting data in mid-November. Between May 2025 and February 2026, Deep Space Station 43 in Canberra, Australia—the only antenna capable of sending commands to Voyager 1 and 2—was offline for major upgrades, with only limited operational windows in August and December 2025. This created a critical deadline for engineers to revive backup roll thrusters before full loss of communication.
=== Far future ===
Provided Voyager 1 does not collide with anything and is not retrieved, it is expected to reach the theorized Oort cloud in about 300 years and take about 30,000 years to pass through it. Though it is not heading towards any particular star, in about 40,000 years, it will pass within 1.6 light-years (0.49 parsecs; 100,000 astronomical units) of the star Gliese 445, which is in the constellation Camelopardalis and 17.1 light-years from Earth (as of 2010). That star is generally moving towards the Solar System at about 119 km/s (430,000 km/h; 270,000 mph). In 300,000 years, it will pass within less than 1 light-year of the M3V star TYC 3135–52–1. The New Horizons space probe will never pass it, despite being launched from Earth at a higher speed than either Voyager spacecraft. The Voyager spacecraft benefited from multiple planetary flybys to increase their heliocentric velocities, whereas New Horizons received only a single such boost, from its Jupiter flyby in 2007. As of 2018, New Horizons is traveling at about 14 km/s (8.7 mi/s), 3 km/s (1.9 mi/s) slower than Voyager 1, and New Horizons, being closer to the Sun, is slowing more rapidly. NASA says that: "The Voyagers are destined – perhaps eternally – to wander the Milky Way."
== Golden record ==