NASA’s Voyager 1, the farthest spacecraft from Earth, has resumed sending science data after a computer problem in November. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that Voyager 1’s four instruments are back in operation, with the team receiving meaningful information from the spacecraft in April. Recently, they commanded Voyager 1 to start studying its environment once again.
Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is currently drifting through interstellar space, the region between star systems. Before reaching this region, the spacecraft made significant discoveries such as a thin ring around Jupiter and several of Saturn’s moons. Its instruments are specifically designed to collect data on plasma waves, magnetic fields, and particles.
Voyager 1 is now more than 15 billion miles from Earth, while its twin Voyager 2, also in interstellar space, is over 12 billion miles away. The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group, with the AP solely responsible for all content.