Voyager 1 spacecraft phones home with transmitter that hasn’t been used since 1981
The backup radio transmitter has remained dormant for about 43 years.
Following recent communication issues, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft resorted to using a backup radio transmitter that has been inactive since 1981.
The interstellar explorer experienced a brief pause in communications after putting itself in a protective state to conserve power. This was triggered by a command sent on Oct. 16 from NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) — a global array of giant radio antennas — instructing the spacecraft to turn on one of its heaters.
The mission’s flight team first realized there was an issue with Voyager 1 on Oct. 18, when the spacecraft failed to respond to that command. The team later discovered that the spacecraft had turned off its primary X-band radio transmitter and instead switched over to its secondary S-band radio transmitter, which uses less power, according to a statement from NASA.
“The transmitter shut-off seems to have been prompted by the spacecraft’s fault protection system, which autonomously responds to onboard issues,” NASA officials said in the statement. “The team is now working to gather information that will help them figure out what happened and return Voyager 1 to normal operations.”
Related: NASA shuts off Voyager 2 science instrument as power dwindles
Voyager 1’s fault protection system can be triggered for a number of reasons, such as if the spacecraft overdraws its power supply. If that happens, the spacecraft will turn off all non-essential systems to conserve power and remain in flight.
After sending instructions to Voyager 1 on Oct. 16, the team expected to receive data back from the spacecraft within a couple of days; it normally takes about 23 hours for a command to travel more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) to reach the spacecraft in interstellar space, and then another 23 hours for the flight team on Earth to receive a signal back.
