Voyager 1 interstellar spacecraft finds its voice again as NASA restores communications

Sep 8, 2020
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Because of the great distance between Voyager 1 and Earth, however, transmissions on the S-band antenna could not be heard by NASA's Deep Space Network, meaning that Voyager 1 had effectively fallen silent.

False. They were able to communicate on the S-band which they used to get the X-band transmitter working again. S-band is too slow and weak to keep up with transmitting scientific data though so its scientific mission effectively stopped.
 
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Sep 3, 2024
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It would be interesting to know if Voyager 1 and 2 are discovering anything interesting nowadays or are just there moving in the dark replying "yes I am alive" but nothing more
 
I'm happy the crafts are chatty. Unfortunately these end-of-life interruptions takes time off the last gasps of science collection, which is expected to end after 2025. Possibly sending the signal after that will be useful, if NASA can afford to listen.

As noted by comments here, the communication problems were easier but also longer than the article claims. In a mysteriously not updated article [NASA claims the X-band is now used: https://blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024...egular-operations-after-communications-pause/] it is else more informative:
In this case, the casualty was its X-band radio transmitter, the spacecraft's main line of communication with Earth. To save power, the fault protection system had reduced the rate of data transmission, and changed the X-band signal.

DSN reestablished the connection, and things seemed stable while the flight team began investigating the issue. But the next day, comms cut out completely.

NASA's suspicion is that the X-band transmitter had set off the fault protection system twice more, which would have caused the craft to turn it off completely. In its place, Voyager 1 would have switched to the S-band transmitter, which uses less power.

Unfortunately, it's also far fainter, and the crew feared that it could no longer be detected from this far away. After all, Voyager 1 hasn't used the S-band transmitter to talk to Earth since 1981, when it was obviously much, much closer to us.

Thankfully, DSN engineers were able to reconnect with this instrument, sending a command on October 22 that confirmed it's still working. The team doesn't want to turn the X-band transmitter back on before they can figure out what the problem is, but troubleshooting is ongoing.
https://www.sciencealert.com/voyager-1-just-activated-a-radio-thats-been-offline-since-1981

And more here:
But in an update, NASA has confirmed that they were able to reactivate the X-band transmitter, and the spacecraft resumed collecting data with its four remaining powered-up science instruments in the week of November 18. The team is now attempting to return the spacecraft to the condition it was in before the error arose, including doing a reset of the system that synchronizes Voyager 1's onboard computers.
https://www.iflscience.com/beating-...s-home-from-249-billion-kilometers-away-76997
 
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It would be interesting to know if Voyager 1 and 2 are discovering anything interesting nowadays or are just there moving in the dark replying "yes I am alive" but nothing more
It's important to keep the two probes in working order, as they move through a region of space that no other human-made objects have yet experienced – interstellar space. There, beyond the Sun's influence, the Voyager twins have made some intriguing discoveries.
https://www.sciencealert.com/voyager-1-just-activated-a-radio-thats-been-offline-since-1981

They do send science data and, as I noted in my response to the article, it may be that just passively sending the signal will tell something (say, of the integrated solar heliosphere plasma dampening the signal in the line of sight).

It is exciting science as well, since it tells some properties of interstellar space for the first time.

The power output of the RTGs declines over time due to the 87.7-year half-life of the fuel and degradation of the thermocouples, but they will continue to support some of its operations until at least 2025.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1
 
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