In mid-November, Voyager 1 suffered a glitch, and it is messages stopped making sense. However the NASA probe is as soon as once more sending messages to Earth that make sense.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
We just lately shared information of some troubles being skilled by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. The historic NASA probe launched in 1977 to discover Jupiter and Saturn. Then it simply stored going. It is now out past the sting of the photo voltaic system within the beforehand unexplored area between stars. And it nonetheless often talks to Earth. However in mid-November, it suffered a glitch, and its messages, nicely, they stopped making sense. NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce now has this replace from the Voyager workforce with some excellent news.
NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE: A small devoted workforce at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has spent the final 5 months making an attempt to determine the best way to assist Voyager 1, which wasn’t straightforward as a result of the whole lot the poor spacecraft despatched again was simply incoherent.
LINDA SPILKER: That is what took the effort and time, determining precisely what was the issue.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Linda Spilker is the Voyager mission’s venture scientist. She says they lastly traced the glitch to a failed reminiscence chip in one of many spacecraft’s primitive computer systems.
SPILKER: And in order that meant we needed to transfer all of these items of code to a distinct place within the reminiscence, and that is what we did.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Nevertheless it was difficult. In spite of everything, the spacecraft is over 15 billion miles away. And its computer systems are so historical that the workforce had no approach to take a look at that their repair would actually work. Nonetheless, mission managers despatched out the rigorously crafted pc instructions. Then they waited to obtain Voyager 1’s response. Spilker says everybody gathered collectively in a convention room early Saturday morning, nervously munching on peanuts.
SPILKER: In these couple of minutes, simply earlier than that sign was coming again – 6:41 A.M. – you might have heard a pin drop in that room.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: When the sign arrived, the whole lot seemed good, regular.
SPILKER: Everybody simply broke out in cheers and smiles, and it was simply an enormous celebration. We had been in such reduction, as nicely. Voyager 1 was again.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Voyager 1’s first messages contained info on the well being and security of its engineering techniques, plus its valuable antenna.
SPILKER: It seems just like the spacecraft is in fine condition, very like we left it again in mid-November.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Spilker says the plan now could be to seek out some extra free reminiscence on a working chip and put within the software program that may let Voyager 1 resume transmission of its science knowledge, in order that researchers will have the ability to observe alongside because the spacecraft travels by an interstellar stew of fuel, mud and cosmic rays. And the workforce in the end hopes to maintain Voyager 1 and its twin Voyager 2 for a minimum of a couple of extra years in order that the Voyager mission will nonetheless be doing science on the fiftieth anniversary of its launch.
Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR Information.
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