“We can all breathe a sigh of relief”exclaims Space.com. “NASA’s Voyager 1 probe is fully operational again, and its four scientific instruments capable of sending back usable data to Earth”specifies the site.
Several months after a serious computer problem appeared “toll the death knell for Voyager 1, which for nearly half a century provided data on distant planets and the far reaches of the solar system”NASA announced this week that it had put the legendary spacecraft back in working order, specifies the New York Times.
“Since the problem surfaced in November, engineers have been working to diagnose and resolve the problem, a long and tedious process complicated by the fact that it takes nearly two days to send and receive information from Voyager 1.”observes the American daily.
The probe, the first man-made object to enter interstellar space (in 2012), is currently more than 25 billion kilometers from Earth. It was launched – with its twin Voyager 2 – in 1977 to explore the most distant planets of our solar system – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Once her mission was accomplished, she continued her journey towards the depths of the universe.
“Defying expectations”
In November, the venerable craft began sending incomprehensible data back to Earth, instead of its usual binary litany of 0s and 1s. Engineers were able to identify the faulty chip responsible for the problem, deactivate it, and program another one. to ensure data transmission.
NASA therefore receives again the precious readings from the mission “on plasma waves, magnetic fields or space particles”explain The Verge.
The new life of the probe could nevertheless “be short-lived”because “NASA previously estimated that the nuclear generators on Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were at risk of dying around 2025”sadly tempers the New York Times.
“But Voyager 1 has already demonstrated that it can defy all expectations”, slips the daily. NASA, to which the mission has already offered much more than expected, only hopes one thing: that the two Voyagers can reach their 50th anniversary in 2027.
