NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has recently resumed normal science operations after a technical issue that occurred in November 2023. The team was able to partially resolve the problem in April by prompting the spacecraft to return engineering data, providing information on its health and status. On May 19, a command was sent to allow the spacecraft to return science data, with two of the four science instruments immediately returning to normal operation. The remaining two instruments required additional work but are now all returning usable science data.
The instruments on Voyager 1 study plasma waves, magnetic fields, and particles, making it the only spacecraft to directly sample interstellar space outside of the heliosphere. While the spacecraft is back to conducting science, some minor work is still required to clean up the effects of the technical issue. Engineers will need to resynchronize timekeeping software in the spacecraft’s computers and perform maintenance on the digital tape recorder.
Voyager 1 is currently over 15 billion miles from Earth, while Voyager 2 is over 12 billion miles away. Both spacecraft will celebrate 47 years of operation this year, making them NASA’s longest-running and most-distant probes. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have both flown past Jupiter and Saturn, with Voyager 2 also visiting Uranus and Neptune.
