The most distant space probe from Earth resumes communication after five months

After a five-month silence, Voyager 1, one of the oldest and most distant space probes from Earth, returned to sending scientific information. Launched in 1977, accompanied by Voyager 2, the Voyager 1 probe continues to be an icon of space exploration, operating longer than any other spacecraft.

This space probe had a technical challenge that left it silent since November. The problem was with an onboard computer chip, responsible for formatting the data before sending it to Earth.

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After the failure of one of its chips, the space probe furthest from Earth managed to transmit data again (Photo: reproduction/Keystone/GettyImages)

Meet Voyager 1

Located at impressive 24 billion kilometers away, Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object from Earth. Its original mission was to explore the far reaches of our solar system. However, a faulty chip threatened to interrupt his journey.

About 15 billion kilometers from our planet, Voyager 1 recently faced a technical challenge that interrupted its transmission with planet Earth. In November 2023, a problem with the flight data system resulted in a repetitive and indecipherable code pattern.

Fault solution

The NASA team worked tirelessly to solve the problem and the probe continued to send radio signals, but without useful data. Last Saturday (20), the team finally received coherent data, indicating that Voyager 1 is healthy and operating normally. The solution came after a process of trial and error, which led to the identification of a defective chip as the source of the problem.

The mission team performed a series of commands to restart the probe's computer system and investigate the cause of the problem. A specific command, sent on March 1, aimed to make the system execute different sequences to identify the failure.

Shortly afterwards, data analysis revealed that a small portion of the system's memory was damaged. The chip's failure could have been caused by wear or impact from an energetic particle from space.

Voyager 1 continues to be a valuable source of knowledge, demonstrating the human ability to solve complex problems, even billions of kilometers away.

Featured Photo: Voyager 1 reestablishes communication with Earth (Reproduction/janiecbros/GettyImages Embed)