On October 16th, Voyager 1's fault protection system kicked in, a safety measure designed to preserve the spacecraft's limited power.
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is depicted in this artist’s concept traveling through interstellar space, or the space between stars, which it entered in 2012. Voyager 1 has been venturing deep into the interstellar space. But recently, this aging spacecraft encountered a silent challenge.On October 16th, Voyager 1 ’s fault protection system kicked in, a safety measure designed to preserve the spacecraft’s limited power.
The flight team transmits command sequences to Voyager 1 through the Deep Space Network and analyzes the spacecraft’s response. “While Voyager 1 should have had ample power to operate the heater, the command triggered the fault protection system. The team learned of the issue when the Deep Space Network couldn’t detect Voyager 1’s signal on October 18,” theThe fault protection system reduced the data transmission rate of the X-band transmitter to conserve power. This change in data rate altered the specific X-band signal that the Deep Space Network was tuned to receive, making it difficult to detect Voyager 1’s signal.
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NASA shut off a Voyager 2 tool to save powerAndrew Paul is Popular Science's staff writer covering tech news. Previously, he was a regular contributor to The A.V. Club and Input, and has had recent work featured by Rolling Stone, Fangoria, GQ, Slate, NBC, as well as McSweeney's Internet Tendency. He lives outside Indianapolis.
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