45 years after it was launched, NASA's Voyager 1 is continuing its journey beyond our Solar System. The veteran spaceship is sending strange data to its engineers.
NASA said on Wednesday that while the probe is still operating properly, the readings from its attitude and control system don't seem to match the craft.
The AACS is important for the craft to send NASA data about its surroundings as it keeps the craft's antenna pointing right at our planet.
Suzanne Dodd, a project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that a mystery like this is par for the course at this stage of the mission.
The mission planners underestimated the age of the spacecraft, which are almost 45 years old.
The engineer works on the antenna. JPL-Caltech is a part of NASA.
The twin probes, the Voyager 1 and the Voyager 2, are functioning normally, according to NASA.
Since it was launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets in our solar system, Voyager 1 has remained operational long past expectations and continues to send information about its journeys back to Earth. The craft left the Solar System in 2012 and entered space. It is the most distant object made by a human.
NASA said that from what it can tell, the AACS is sending random data that does not reflect what is actually happening on board.
Even if the system data is wrong, the spacecraft is receiving and sending data back to Earth. During which it carries out only essential operations, the system issue hasn't triggered the aging spacecraft to go into safe mode.
NASA said that until the nature of the issue is better understood, the team can't anticipate whether this will affect how long the spacecraft can collect and transmit science data.
Dodd and her team are trying to figure out why the robot emissary from Earth is sending junky data.
Dodd said there were some big challenges for the engineering team.
It takes 20 hours and 33 minutes to get to the current location, so a round-trip message takes two days.
If there is a way to solve this issue with the AACS, our team will find it.
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