As humanity’s furthest reach into the Universe so far, the two Voyager spacecraft’s well-being is of utmost importance to many. Although we know that there will be an end to any science mission, the recent near-death experience by Voyager 1 was a shocking event for many. Now it seems that things may have more or less returned to normal, with all four remaining scientific instruments now back online and returning information.
Since the completion of Voyager 1’s primary mission over 43 years ago, five of its instruments (including the cameras) were disabled to cope with its diminishing power reserves, with two more instruments failing. This left the current magnetometer (MAG), charged particle (LECP) and cosmic ray (CRS) instruments, as well as the plasma wave subsystem (PWS). These are now all back in operation based on the returned science data after the Voyager team confirmed previously that they were receiving engineering data again.
With Voyager 1 now mostly back to normal, some housekeeping is necessary: resynchronizing the onboard time, as well as maintenance on the digital tape recorder. This will ensure that this venerable spacecraft will be all ready for its 47th anniversary this fall.
Thanks to [Mark Stevens] for the tip.
The fact that it was possible to diagnose and repair a problem in something so old and so far away is breathtaking. Congratulations to the team who made it work, I rememeber the launch and never imagined it even functioning, let alone returning data, so many years on.
Absolutely amazing
Truly an inspiration for engineers everywhere. If you engineer it well the first time, your design too can run for decades!
Biology is amazing. :-D
Almost unlimited funds helps too!
The remaining Voyager crew definitely does NOT have unlimited funds. They aren’t even located at the JPL campus anymore. This is a small team of very dedicated very experienced engineers most with decades of Voyager experience. Many close to or at retirement age. They, not money, keep the voyagers running
This kind of dedication is something that money can’t buy.
My most sincere respect to the people involved in continuing the Voyager mission.
Fact Checked: True ✅
Isnt it multigenerational? I thought I remember reading that a couple of the original engineers children have picked up where they left off.
Do they have them working out of the closed McDonald’s yet?
inb4 all the “moon people” start a conspiracy that this happened because aliens and NASA didn’t want to publicly expose it.
A great documentary about the incredible Voyager team.
https://www.space.com/nasa-voyager-mission-engineers-documentary
Yes, I agree. Free streaming for Amazon Prime members:
https://www.amazon.com/Its-Quieter-Twilight-Suzanne-Dodd/dp/B0BX2CQMXS
This is just so amazing… every time I think about Voyager screaming through space silently, completely alone, way beyond humans have ever been, I get a bit choked up. We bottled up humanity’s hopes and dreams and catapulted them across the solar system. The fact that we are still getting useful data from Voyager is incredible… the day one or both fall silent will be a very, very sad day.