Traveling around the solar system for 45 years takes its toll on a spacecraft. NASA’s Voyager 1 mission launched in 1977, entered what scientists refer to as interstellar space in 2012, and then just kept going – the spacecraft is now 14.5 billion miles (23.3 billion kilometers) beyond Earth. While Voyager 1 is still operational, scientists on the mission recently observed that it appeared perplexed about its position in space without entering safe mode or otherwise raising an alert, which perplexes and frustrates the space probe team on Earth. But what happened to Voyager 1 and what did it encounter in interstellar space? Join us as we investigate how Voyager 1 sent a perplexing message back to Earth from the farthest reaches of space. The idea for Voyager came from the realization that several planets would align in a highly convenient way in the late 1970s, providing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit them all in one journey. NASA chose to launch two identical spacecraft one after the other because plotting a trajectory that perfectly hit all objectives would be difficult and expensive (not to mention risky).
The first would take close-up images of Jupiter and Saturn, while the second would observe the two planets from a different angle before moving on to Uranus and Neptune, assuming all goes well. Everything — well, almost everything — went as planned, and Voyager was one of the most productive and surprising space missions ever undertaken. If you’re going to send something into interstellar space, why not prepare it for extraterrestrial interception? The term “Moonshot” does not adequately describe the Golden Record project’s ambition or the astronomically low odds of it ever being encountered by intelligent life, but that isn’t really the point. The record and Voyager have inspired generations to believe that it is worthwhile to try new things simply because we can and because it is in our DNA. Carl Sagan, one of the most humanitarian of scientists, curated the Golden Record’s very human contents. It’s incredible to think that our unique presence, from biology to beauty and philosophy, is blasting through space. The Voyagers surprised scientists four decades ago when they provided the first close-up views of Jupiter and Saturn’s moons, revealing the existence of active volcanoes and fissured ice fields on worlds that astronomers had assumed would be as inert and crater-pocked as our own moon. In 1986, Voyager 2 became the first spacecraft to fly by Uranus, followed three years later by Neptune. It is currently the only spaceship capable of performing such missions.
They are now surprising and perplexing theorists with a series of unexpected discoveries about that unexplored region as pioneering interstellar probes more than 12 billion miles from Earth. Their incredible journey is coming to an end. NASA has turned off heaters and other non-essential components over the last three years, eking out the spacecrafts’ remaining energy reserves in order to extend their historic missions until around 2030. It’s a bittersweet moment for the Voyagers’ scientists, many of whom have been on the project since its inception. They are now nearing the end of a project that far exceeded their wildest dreams. “We’re at 44 and a half years,” says Ralph McNutt, a physicist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) who has worked on the Voyagers for much of his career. “So we did ten times the warranty on the darn things.” Voyager 1 was the second spacecraft to visit Saturn. It looked into the planet, its rings, moons, and magnetic field in greater detail than Pioneer 11 could. Except for the photopolarimeter tests, Voyager 1 completed all of its objectives. Prometheus and Pandora, the “shepherding” moons that keep the F ring defined, and Atlas, which does the same for the A ring, were discovered by the spacecraft. Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, has a thick atmosphere that obscures its surface from visible-light cameras and telescopes. Spacecraft instruments revealed that it is mostly nitrogen, similar to Earth’s atmosphere, but with a 1.6 times higher surface pressure. The spacecraft also photographed Saturn’s moons Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, and Rhea, as well as revealing the intricate features of Saturn’s complex and magnificent ring system and discovering the G ring. Just as it used Jupiter’s gravity to help it get to Saturn, Voyager 1 used Saturn’s gravity to change its direction and speed, sending it out of the solar system. In August 2012, Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space. If we define our solar system as the Sun and everything in its orbit, Voyager 1 will stay within its boundaries until it escapes the Oort cloud in another 14,000 to 28,000 years. In the middle of May, Voyager 1’s attitude articulation and control system (AACS), which is normally in charge of keeping the High Gain antenna pointed towards Earth, began sending jumbled data to Earth instead of the spacecraft’s regular health and condition reports.
From where we were, it appeared that the spaceship had developed an electronic form of aphasia, a disorder that causes loss of fluency in one’s speech. According to a NASA statement at the time, the data may appear to be generated at random or may not correspond to any potential state of the AACS. Engineers were even more perplexed by the fact that, despite the spacecraft’s strange status reports, the radio signal from the ship remained strong and stable, indicating that the antenna was still pointed at Earth and not in whatever position the AACS was claiming to NASA. Similarly, Voyager 1’s science systems continued to gather and send data as usual, with no impact on the AACS, and whatever was wrong with the AACS did not trigger a fault protection mechanism designed to put the spaceship in safe mode when it malfunctioned. Fortunately, NASA engineers were able to identify the issue and implement a fix. They discovered that the AACS had been sending Telemetry data through an onboard computer that had stopped working years before. All NASA engineers had to do was instruct the AACS to use the correct computer to send its data home because the dead computer corrupted all of the incoming data. The next step will be to figure out what prompted the AACS to switch systems in the first place. NASA believes the system received an incorrect command from another onboard computer.
While this is not a major concern for Voyager 1’s well-being at the moment, the true culprit must be identified and repaired to prevent future anomalies. Voyager 1 has spent the last decade cruising in interstellar space, far beyond the reach of our Sun’s magnetic field. The field has shielded the craft from cosmic rays and other interstellar radiation, much like the Earth’s magnetic field shields us from high-energy particles and radiation from the Sun. When one of those high-speed, high-energy particles collides with a computer chip, it may cause minor memory faults that accumulate over time, and it’s reasonable to expect that to be an issue for Voyager 1’s on-board computers as well. In a statement, Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager 1 and 2, said, “A mystery like this is sort of par for the course at this stage of the Voyager Mission.” Both spacecraft are around 45 years old. This exceeds the mission designers’ expectations, and we’re also in interstellar space, a high radiation environment where no spacecraft has ever traveled. We’ll have to wait and see what new threats and surprises Voyager faces on its next mission. Despite the fact that NASA’s Voyager spacecrafts launched from Earth 45 years ago, the twin explorers continue to communicate with Earth from billions of miles away. According to Suzanne, we make the “hello, are you okay?” call once a week. The check-ins allow Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 to communicate their exact positions on the other side of the heliosphere, a vast region of the solar system whose magnetic field shields Earth and the other planets from galactic cosmic rays. In one of these calls in May, Voyager One sent a strange signal in which data from the computer that controls its orientation was returned in jumbled bits, scrambled ones and zeros, and it appeared to be garbage. “It’s like the check engine light went on,” said Bruce Wagoner, a JPL engineer who oversees the operations of the Voyager missions. “We couldn’t pinpoint it to a specific location.”
This computer is critical because it keeps Voyager 1’s communication antenna securely oriented toward Earth. Any failure or loss of power would end Humanity’s longest-distance conversation for good. Voyager 1 is now so far away that communications from the probe take over 22 hours to reach us, but they’re worth the wait! The messages contain vital scientific information about interstellar magnetic fields. Cosmic rays and plasma waves Transmissions from the voyagers are received by the Deep Space Network, a trio of massive radio antennae located in California’s Mojave Desert, Australia, and Spain. They’re distributed across the globe so that at least one of them can be pointed at any point in the sky. Each of the three locations has a 230-foot antenna designed specifically to listen in on the travelers. The farther they travel, the harder it is to hear them. The radios on the voyagers transmit messages at only 23 watts of power, and by the time the signals reach Earth, they have been reduced to the faintest Whisper, barely one billionth of a watt. Every year, the spacecraft’s batteries lose up to 4 watts of power due to the decay of the radioisotope plutonium 238 that powers them. Solar energy is not a possibility because the sun is so far away! With a limited supply of energy, what can be sacrificed and what can be kept is a series of trade-offs, and why Voyager 1 made the transition in the first place remains a mystery, as it indicates something else isn’t quite right onboard the probe. What are your opinions?
FAQ
How has Voyager 1 not hit anything?
NASA’s extraordinary Voyager 1 spacecraft was launched in 1977 and has traveled over huge stretches of space without coming into contact with any celestial bodies. A major factor in Voyager 1’s failure to collide with anything is interstellar space’s vast emptiness. The immense expanse of empty space that separates planets, moons, and other celestial bodies makes up the majority of the solar system. Additionally, NASA’s mission control has made sure that Voyager 1’s path avoids any collisions through thorough trajectory planning and course changes. The spacecraft’s sensors and equipment have been sending data back to Earth continuously, allowing for precise trajectory corrections and tracking. The great distances and cautious navigation that Voyager 1 travels through on its incredible trip across space help it avoid colliding with any celestial objects as it enters the unexplored region of interstellar space.
Is there any contact with Voyager 1?
From the furthest depths of interstellar space, Voyager 1 is still in contact with Earth. The spacecraft stays in contact with NASA’s Deep Space Network with high reliability, even though it is located nearly 14 billion miles distant. After almost 21 hours, Voyager 1’s signals arrive on Earth, and the spacecraft keeps sending back important information about its surroundings. However, the frequency and complexity of communications have decreased with time due to the mission’s extended duration and the difficulties caused by the spacecraft’s deteriorating power source and aged components. Intermittent signals are still being received by NASA, primarily for status and health monitoring, instead of substantial scientific data exchange.
Is Voyager 1 sending strange signals?
No reports of Voyager 1 transmitting odd signals have surfaced. Science data on the interstellar medium and the spacecraft’s operational status are the main things the spacecraft transmits to Earth. The spacecraft’s aged instrumentation and the difficulties posed by its distance from Earth are usually to blame for any departures from the intended data transmission, even though the signals from Voyager 1 are closely examined for any anomalies or inconsistencies. While NASA’s Deep Space Network continues to monitor and interpret Voyager 1 data, any anomalous trends are usually examined and examined to rule out technical problems or interference.
Has Voyager 1 been sending back mysterious data?
No information about Voyager 1 returning data that was puzzling or unexplained was reported. Science observations, measurements of the interstellar environment, and updates on the spacecraft’s operating state are the main contents of its transmissions. We now know much more about the outer regions of our solar system and the interstellar medium thanks to Voyager 1. In order to gain important insights into the circumstances and phenomena experienced during the spacecraft’s amazing trip, scientists and mission control carefully examine any data received from the spacecraft. Even while there are sometimes unexpected discoveries made, their origins are usually not mysterious or inexplicable, but rather the intricacies of interstellar space.
Why did Voyager 1 stop sending pictures?
Voyager 1’s power supply and imaging device design were the main causes of its picture-taking cessation. Radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which NASA launched in 1977, provide Voyager 1 with electricity by converting heat from decaying plutonium-238. The entire power budget of the spacecraft has been impacted by the RTGs’ progressive drop in production over the years. Because of this, mission controllers have given operating vital scientific instruments—like those that measure plasma, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays—priority over energy-demanding imaging equipment. It was decided to stop routine imaging operations in order to save power and prolong the mission’s life. Even while Voyager 1 is no longer able to take fresh pictures, its archived images of the planets, moons, and other celestial bodies in our solar system remain a priceless heritage that offer never-before-seen perspectives of far-off worlds.
