Nasa is puzzled: space probe "Voyager 1" sends strange data from interstellar space
Created: 08/04/2022, 11:25 am
By: Tanya Banner
Illustration: A "Voyager" spacecraft from the US space agency Nasa in space.
© imago/Science Photo Library
The space probe "Voyager 1" poses a mystery to Nasa researchers.
What's going on with the legendary probe in interstellar space?
Washington DC - The "Voyager" space probes of the US space agency Nasa are legendary.
The two probes were launched in quick succession in the summer of 1977 to explore the outer planetary system.
Both probes are among NASA's greatest successes, because they are doing something incredible: they are still regularly sending data to Earth - almost 45 years after their launch.
"Voyager 1" and "Voyager 2" have long since left the sphere of influence of the sun and have penetrated into interstellar space, "Voyager 1" is currently an unimaginable 23.3 billion kilometers away from the earth - for comparison: the distance between the earth and the sun is about 150 million kilometers.
But recently, the Nasa team that oversees the "Voyager" mission has become concerned about the aging spacecraft "Voyager 1".
While it is functioning normally, carrying out commands from Earth and collecting and sending scientific data back to Earth, data from the AACS (attitude articulation and control system) instrument does not match what is happening on board.
Engineers in the "Voyager" team are puzzled, as
reported
by fr.de.
Nasa space probe "Voyager 1": Researchers are faced with a great mystery
The AACS controls the orientation of the 45-year-old spacecraft in space.
Among other things, this includes aligning the high-gain antenna of “Voyager 1” precisely with the earth so that the space probe can send data “home”.
According to Nasa, all indications are that the system is working - "Voyager 1" is sending data to Earth - but the instrument's telemetry data is obviously wrong.
Some of the data would look like it was "randomly generated," and some did not show the state "that the AACS could be in," NASA said in a statement.
So far, the spacecraft hasn't sent any error messages, Voyager 1 hasn't gone into safe mode, and the signal it's sending to Earth hasn't weakened.
This indicates that the antenna is still in the correct orientation in relation to the earth, explains NASA.
"A mystery like this is quite normal at this stage of the 'Voyager' mission," says Suzanne Dodd, project manager for the two 'Voyager' probes at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena.
"The spacecraft are both nearly 45 years old, which is well beyond what the mission's planners anticipated."
Legendary NASA "Voyager" space probes are in interstellar space
And the spacecraft's environment could also play a role in the current mystery, Dodd suggests.
“We are in interstellar space – a high-radiation environment where no spacecraft has flown before.
So there are some big challenges for the engineering team.” If the team doesn't find the cause of the anomaly, they will try to adapt to it, emphasizes Dodd.
"I think if there is a way to solve this problem with the AACS, our team will find it." It is possible to fix the error through software changes or to use a redundant hardware system on the spacecraft.
It wouldn't be the first time the team supporting the Voyager spacecraft has had to activate backup hardware.
In 2017, the Voyager 1 team started backup engines after the main engines showed signs of deterioration.
These engines worked - although they had not been used for 37 years beforehand.
also read
Brain-dead Archie (12) must die: EU court rejects help – parents express their last wish
Reserved a spot on the beach?
Holidaymakers in Croatia face a fine of 200 euros
Nasa space probe "Voyager 1": Saving energy for scientific instruments
The twin of "Voyager 1", the space probe "Voyager 2" is currently 19.5 billion kilometers from Earth and, according to Nasa, is working properly.
In the meantime, however, various subsystems and heaters on both spacecraft have been shut down to conserve energy for the scientific instruments.
So far, no scientific instruments have been switched off, Nasa emphasizes in a statement.
The "Voyager" team is trying to keep the two spacecraft running until after 2025.
Look into the depths of the universe - This is how "Hubble" sees the universe
View photo gallery
While the technical employees in the "Voyager" team try to solve the mystery surrounding the "Voyager 1" space probe, the researchers in the team deal with the scientific data that the two space probes send to Earth from interstellar space.
This requires a lot of patience: It currently takes 20 hours and 33 minutes for data from "Voyager 1" to arrive on Earth due to the great distance.
So when the researchers send a command to the spacecraft, it takes almost two days to get a response from Voyager 1 — but the team is used to working with these large time delays.
And it's worth it: as a reward, they receive a large amount of data from interstellar space - a region from which data had never been sent before "Voyager".
(tab)