Voyager 1 interstellar probe sends ‘anomalous’ data, NASA says

On mission for almost 45 years, the currently most distant probe, at the edge of our solar system, continues to communicate well with ground stations. But the data from its orientation system is incorrect… The teams are trying to understand the origin of this failure.

For now, the mission continues.

Make a U-turn

These are some precious bytes that travel and cross our Solar System. At 23.3 billion kilometers from Earth (almost 4 times farther than Pluto), the Voyager 1 probe receives and transmits small data packets at regular intervals. Part of the latter are devoted to science, and another part to the “vital” parameters of the probe, powered by an aging radioactive battery.

Thanks to its large antenna, Voyager 1 sends its data to our planet. They arrive… 21 hours and 32 minutes later, and must be deciphered by the Deep Space Network’s antenna array. But, for a few days, some of these data do not “stick”, those of the AACS (Attitude Articulation and Control System, control of orientation). According to NASA, they are either wrong, impossible or random.

Poorly explained data

What raises questions for the small team in charge of Voyager 1 is that despite the values ​​emitted by the AACS, they know that the probe is well oriented, otherwise its antenna would have been misaligned towards the Earth and the messages would not have been received as usual. And if Voyager 1 pointed “anywhere”, it would have been felt in the scientific data…

In the same way, if the probe does not receive terrestrial messages, after a certain time, it switches its internal systems to a backup mode, which is not the case today. For the moment, mystery, then. But that’s annoying, because as NASA’s statement explains: Until the problem is better identified, it is impossible to know if it may have an impact on the way Voyager 1 collects and transmits data. »

Retirement time?

With a takeoff in September 1977 and efficient but rudimentary on-board electronics, Voyager 1 (like its twin Voyager 2) is not eternal, and NASA teams know it well.

Data from recent years suggested that it would transmit until its radioactive battery no longer provided it with the necessary energy… But this orientation problem, whether it comes from the sensor, the probe’s memory or another system, could have bad consequences. There’s no need to panic, communications are working for now, and with many redundant controls, Voyager 1 is still there.

But, as project manager Suzanne Dodd (JPL) reminds us: “ The probes have survived much longer than planners originally hoped, but they are traversing interstellar space [hors de l’héliosphère, NDLR]which is an environment rich in radiation and energetic particles that no other vehicle has been able to visit with them. “And an apparently not tender environment with on-board electronics…

Source :CNN