NASA’s Voyager 1, the farthest-traveling spacecraft ever launched by humanity, is experiencing significant challenges that may impact the continuation of its decades-long mission.
The craft’s ultimate longevity remains a question mark, but recent problems with Voyager 1 remind that no good interstellar probe can last forever.
In recent years, Voyager 1 has grappled with a series of technical difficulties, including a major data glitch in 2023 that caused the spacecraft to transmit distorted information back to Earth, and eventually going dark. As the spacecraft ventures further into interstellar space, power system issues and communication problems continue to rise concerns, according to a Nov. 26 statement from the space agency.
NASA launched Voyager 1 – followed later by Voyager 2 – in the summer of 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., as part of a mission to explore interstellar space. In August 2012, Voyager 1 made its historic entry into interstellar space, and beyond the influence of our sun.
Although the spacecraft’s systems have continued to operate as expected despite the malfunction, the incident underscores the growing challenges of managing a spacecraft located over 14 billion miles away.
“Voyagers 1 and 2 have been flying for more than 47 years and are the only two spacecrafts to operate in interstellar space. Their advanced age has meant an increase in the frequency and complexity of technical issues and new challenges for the mission engineering team,” NASA said.
With each passing day, the growing distance from Earth makes it harder to troubleshoot and resolve issues, posing a potential risk to the mission’s longevity.
The most recent issue occurred on Oct. 16, when the flight team sent a command to activate one of Voyager 1’s heaters. Although the spacecraft should have had enough power to operate the heater, the command triggered the fault protection system. The team became aware of the problem when the Deep Space Network was unable to detect Voyager 1’s signal on Oct. 18. By Oct. 19, communication appeared to cease entirely.
The spacecraft typically communicates with Earth using what’s called an X-band radio transmitter, named for the specific frequency it uses.
“The flight team correctly hypothesized that the fault protection system had lowered the rate at which the transmitter was sending back data. This mode requires less power from the spacecraft, but it also changes the X-band signal that the Deep Space Network needs to listen for. Engineers found the signal later that day, and Voyager 1 otherwise seemed to be in a stable state as the team began to investigate what had happened,” NASA said.
Earlier this month, the team reactivated the X-band transmitter and resumed collecting data the week of Nov. 18 from the four operational science instruments on the craft. Engineers are now working on final tasks to restore Voyager 1 to its previous state, including resetting the system that synchronizes its three onboard computers.
Although the flight team successfully brought the probe back online, the mission continues to operate with very limited power margins on both Voyager probes. Powered by heat from decaying plutonium converted into electricity, the spacecraft loses about four watts of power each year. The team uses computer models to predict the power consumption of various systems, such as heaters and instruments.
However, uncertainties remain due to factors like the aging of components and the unpredictable behavior of hardware, putting Voyager 1’s function life closer to its conclusion.
