After radio difficulties: Voyager 1 transmits and operates normally again

NASA is once again communicating on regular frequencies with the Voyager 1 space probe at the edge of the solar system. The US space agency has now announced this and suggests that the recent radio problems are due to the low power capacity on board the probe. However, since the successful reactivation of the standard transmitter on November 18, data is now being received again from all four remaining measuring instruments and Voyager 1 is operating normally. No changes are therefore planned.

Too much power used for heating

The most recent problems occurred in mid-October. The probe had been ordered to activate a heater on board. As a result, Voyager 1 did not report back on the usual frequency in the X-band, and later another signal was detected in the S-band, which is reserved for a more energy-efficient transmitter. The last communication with the probe was in 1981. As NASA now explains, after activating the heater, the probe determined that too little power was available and therefore activated the main transmitter.

NASA is now reminding us once again that Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are slowly but surely running out of power more than 45 years after their launch. Both are powered by radionuclide batteries, which supply around 4 watts less each year. For this reason, more and more systems were switched off years ago, and the majority of the measuring instruments have long since stopped collecting data. Because they still work with extremely low power reserves, it is possible that slightly different predictions of power consumption can have such major consequences.

Persistent fear of the end of the mission

The recent problems are the latest in a rapidly growing list. Launched in 1977, the Voyager probes were able to take advantage of a rare constellation in which the four largest planets in the solar system came particularly close to each other. Both visited Jupiter and used it to gain momentum towards Saturn, where their paths diverged: Voyager 1 catapulted out of the plane of the solar system there, Voyager 2 set course for Uranus and Neptune. Originally only a four-year mission was planned; they have now been traveling for 47 years and are still active. The twins last reached interstellar space.

It was only a year ago that Voyager 1 experienced problems, which at times even raised fears that the mission was about to come to an end. For months, the probe only sent garbage data to Earth, but in the spring those responsible managed to rectify the error. Since mid-June, all four active instruments have been collecting data again, but one of them was deactivated at the beginning of October to save power. Weeks earlier , the activation of an engine had once again revealed the difficulties caused by wear and tear.

(mho)