NASA’s Voyager 1, the farthest spacecraft from Earth, has recently resumed sending science data after a computer problem in November. This marks a significant achievement for the team, as they had not received meaningful data from the spacecraft since April.
Voyager 1 is currently drifting through interstellar space, the space between star systems. Launched in 1977, the spacecraft made important discoveries such as a thin ring around Jupiter and several of Saturn’s moons. Voyager 1’s instruments are specifically designed to collect information about plasma waves, magnetic fields, and particles.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that Voyager 1’s four instruments are back in working order. The spacecraft is located over 15 billion miles (24.14 kilometers) from Earth, making it the most distant spacecraft from our planet. Its twin, Voyager 2, is also in interstellar space and is more than 12 billion miles (19.31 kilometers) away. Both spacecraft have made significant contributions to our understanding of the universe and continue to provide valuable data.
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