The NASA spacecraft sends strange signals from outer space
NASA's spacecraft, launched in 1977 to study the outer stars of the solar system, is still active - and it goes beyond the limits of the solar system and sends strange signals from a distance of about 23 billion kilometers.
Niv Lillian
22/05/2022
Sunday, 22 May 2022, 11:04 Updated: 11:09
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NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft near Saturn (Photo: AP)
Voyager 1 (and its sister Voyager 2) were launched in 1977 to study the outer stars of the solar system.
But the little lander surprised NASA by the fact that 45 years (!) After its launch it is still active, and still transmits data to Earth, and lives far beyond the life of its original mission. Voyager 1 is the most man-made research tool in the world. Ever: it has passed Pluto, entering the interstellar space between our solar system, and outer space - a distance of more than 22 billion kilometers
. Strange to Earth.
The problem is probably in the AACS system, which is responsible for Voyager's orientation in space - including the important task of aiming its antennas towards the Earth.
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Voyager 1 overall in good condition and working properly, but sends strange information to Earth (Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech)
"All indications are that the AACS is still active, but the information does not make sense. For example, it is randomly generated or does not properly represent the state in which the AACS is supposed to be," the US Space Agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced this week.
The space agency speculates that the high radiation found at the ends of the solar system, the area where Voyager 1 is located, affects its systems and is the cause of the strange data.
NASA, meanwhile, is not worried, and despite the challenge, they say, the problems can be solved by updating software sent to the spacecraft or operating hardware backup systems. If the fault is not fixed, NASA will have to adapt to the problem.
One way or another, both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are facing the end of their long lives, when their energy source will be depleted.
Both spacecraft are powered by plutonium-238 cylinders, which produce heat from radiation that is converted to electricity.
Unfortunately, plutonium-238, a rare radioactive material, decays over time, and it is estimated that the plutonium fuel cells equipped with the spacecraft will reach the end of their lives in 2025, when there is not enough energy left from the plutonium to operate Voyager spacecraft systems.
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Voyager
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