Achi news desk-
For the first time in five months, NASA has received interpretable data from Voyager 1.
Voyager project scientist Linda Spilker said one of the computer chips in the memory had failed.
“It was a hardware failure and so we had to reprogram around that piece of memory, move that piece of code to a different place and then start it all over again. So last Saturday we got data back again from Voyager 1,” he said.
“It was really exciting. I was all smiles. People were high and cheering and it was also a relief to be communicating with Voyager 1 again. The next step is to continue that reprogramming effort so we can get the science data back.”
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched in 1977. Having achieved their primary goals of flying past and exploring the four outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the spacecraft are now providing data on interstellar space.
“Interstellar space basically consists of exploding stars and super nova explosions that send their material into space,” Spilker said. “So Voyager is now for the first time sampling that material. So it’s very exciting to be exploring in a place that no spacecraft has ever explored before.”
Spilker said each Voyager sends back eight to ten hours of data each day and will eventually run out of power.
“Eventually, there won’t be enough power to run the systems on Voyager. We will start turning off the science instruments one by one and slowly they will be so low in power that they will become very cold and that will be the end of the Voyager mission in terms of sending back data,” he said. .
According to Spilker, each Voyager carries a golden record that has pictures, music and the sights and sounds of Earth.
“So we sent a galactic message in a bottle to whoever would find it and there’s even a diagram on the cover of where we are so they can find us,” he said.
“I think Voyager taught us that there are a lot of amazing surprises out there and there’s still a lot to learn.”
