NASA has announced that Voyager 1, the most distant human-made object from Earth, is once again sending back data from all four of its scientific instruments. This means the spacecraft is providing valuable readings on plasma waves, magnetic fields, and space-bound particles.
In November, Voyager 1 stopped transmitting reliable data, posing a significant challenge for NASA engineers, who had to wait 45 hours for any communication from the spacecraft. By April, they had managed to restore health and status updates, and by May, science data from two of its instruments.
Now, Voyager 1, located over 15 billion miles from Earth, is conducting normal scientific operations. NASA’s next steps include resyncing the probe’s timekeeping software and performing maintenance on an infrequently used digital tape recorder.
This achievement is remarkable for a probe that has been operational for 47 years. Launched in 1977 for a five-year mission to study Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 1 has far exceeded its original objectives. Despite occasional technical issues with both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, NASA has continually found innovative ways to extend their missions, such as tapping into reserve power and reactivating thrusters unused for nearly 30 years.
