Voyager 1 continues its exploration of interstellar space. But the NASA probe encounters a mysterious problem, which does not, however, prevent it from sending scientific data.
44 years after its launch into space, the Voyager 1 probe is still active. The ship, which is currently exploring the interstellar medium, however, encounters a very strange problem. ” We investigate a mystery with Voyager 1 “says NASA on Twitter May 19, 2022.
The probe, whichis currently 23.3 billion kilometers from us, has not stopped sending scientific data to our planet. Voyager 1 also continues to execute the commands we send to it. The problem concerns a subsystem, called AACS (for ” attitude articulation and control system “). AACS is used to control Voyager 1’s orientation and altitude maneuvers. It is also the AACS which keeps the antenna of Voyager 1 in the direction of the Earth, which is necessary for the transmission of data.
NASA is looking for what’s wrong with the Voyager 1 probe
” All signs suggest AACS is still working, but the telemetry data it returns is invalid “says NASA. For now, the situation has not resulted in triggering a failure protection system that is on board the probe. This would have the effect of putting Voyager 1 into “safe mode”, implying that only the most essential activities continue to be performed.
Furthermore, notes NASA, Voyager 1’s signal also did not weaken, suggesting that the high-gain antenna remains in its prescribed orientation with Earth “. The team responsible for the probe will continue to monitor the received signal, to better understand the nature of the problem – determine if the problem comes directly from the AACS, or from another system. It is also possible that the source of the problem cannot be identified, and that the team just has to adapt to the situation.
All of this takes time, because Voyager 1 is so far from Earth that it takes about 2 days to send it a message and get a response. NASA is not so surprised by the problem currently encountered: it must be kept in mind that the equipment is almost 45 years old, a longevity much greater than expected (the primary mission ended in 1989) . The interstellar medium is also a particular environment, which no longer depends on the Sun, our star, and could therefore have unexpected effects on the probes.
