Voyager 1 Doesn’t Know Where it is, Generating Random-Looking Telemetry Data

There are a lot of weird ways to fail a computer system. There are even more wacky ways to fail a computer blasted by radiation. You are bound to have something happen if you combine those two attributes. It seems to have with the first one. The space probe, which has been in active service for almost 45 years, is sending back data that doesn't make sense.

At this point in the probe's journey, that isn't that big of a deal. Telemetry data helps position the science instruments and the high-gain antenna that allows it to talk to Earth. The data science instruments are sending back good readings, which shows that the antenna is pointing in the right direction.

At this point, it is not clear what is causing the data to be strange. Engineers are trying to find a solution. Their first step is to find out if the randomized data is coming from the attitude and articulation control system or something else.

The operating systems for the probe could have been shut down if the bogus data had triggered them. The data is not perfect, but the data is still being sent from 14.5 billion miles away. It and its sister craft, Voyager 2, are the only probes to have gone outside of the solar system and are able to collect data.

The data returned from 12 billion miles away seems to be fine. That shows that something is going wrong with the systems. Software changes or switch to a redundant hardware system are possibilities.

This wouldn't be the first time the engineers brought up a backup system. The probe's main thrusters began to fail in 2017, so the flight engineers switched to thrusters that were originally used to maneuver the probe around planets back in the 70s. Even though they hadn't been used in 37 years, they worked well.

Every year, the reactor that has been powered by Voyager produces four fewer watt per year. The mission team has been forced to turn off some subsystems in order to direct the power where it is needed most. All of them will have to be powered off eventually. The mission team will keep getting as much data as possible from the most distant ambassador of our species until that day.

You can learn more.

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The images are from 25 years ago.