Voyager 1 Sends Back Repeating Patterns Of 1s And 0s From Interstellar Space
It’s as if it were “stuck”.
With such a mission, you’d expect the occasional challenge, even before you take into account the high radiation environment it is heading through. And glitches most definitely have occurred, including mysterious telemetry data that was sent back last year, likely the result of the data passing through an old onboard computer which had not been functional for years.
That was fixed in August 2022, but now there is a new problem, and it’s a frustrating one.
“The spacecraft is receiving and executing commands sent from Earth; however, the [flight data system] is not communicating properly with one of the probe’s subsystems, called the telecommunications unit (TMU),” NASA explained in a statement. “As a result, no science or engineering data is being sent back to Earth.”
Instead of sending back the usual varied data packages in binary code, the TMU has begun “transmitting a repeating pattern of ones and zeros as if it were ‘stuck’.” NASA believes the source of the problem is the flight data system, and last weekend attempted to reset the computer to the state it was in before the error occurred. However, the spacecraft has continued to send unusable data. The team will continue to work on solutions, before the painstaking 45-hour wait to find out if it worked.
My twin Voyager 1 is having a bit of trouble with its Flight Data System, but our team is on it! Details from @NASAJPL below. -V2 https://t.co/DRnxCzYLv5
— NASA Voyager (@NASAVoyager) December 12, 2023
Voyager 1 Is in Serious Trouble, NASA Says https://t.co/YF5tWTJvU4
— Futurism (@futurism) December 14, 2023
NASA’s space probe Voyager 1 is facing ‘communication challenges’ with Earth due to a computer glitch, prompting engineers to reference decades-old manuals in their efforts to address the issue and restore functionality.
— Ｎｅｒｄｙ
🅳🅳🅸🅲🆃 (@Nerdy_Addict) December 13, 2023
