Brandon is the space/physics editor at Live Science. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Reader's Digest, CBS.com, the Richard Dawkins Foundation website and other outlets. He holds a bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Arizona, with minors in journalism and media arts.
Scientists lost contact with the interstellar Voyager 1 probe from Oct. 19 to Oct. 24, after a technical malfunction forced the spacecraft's main radio transmitter to shut down, NASA officials wrote in a blog post. Engineers have since established contact with Voyager 1's weaker backup transmitter, which hasn't been used since 1981, while they assess the situation.
With communication restored, it could take several more days or weeks for the underlying issue to be identified. According to NASA, the current communication breakdown began on Oct. 16, after engineers sent Voyager 1 a command to turn on one of its heaters. While the spacecraft should have had ample power to execute this command, the prompt instead triggered Voyager 1's fault protection system.
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.Engineers suspect that, during this period, Voyager 1's fault protection system triggered two more times. This forced the spacecraft to turn off its main X-band radio transmitter and switch to its backup S-band transmitter, which uses a different frequency and is"significantly fainter" than the main transmitter, according to NASA.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Voyager 1 Ghosts NASA, Forcing Use of Backup Radio Dormant Since 1981The spacecraft has inexplicably turned off one of its radio transmitters, likely because of an unidentified onboard issue.
Read more »
Voyager 1 spacecraft phones home with transmitter that hasn't been used since 1981Samantha Mathewson joined Space.com as an intern in the summer of 2016. She received a B.A. in Journalism and Environmental Science at the University of New Haven, in Connecticut. Previously, her work has been published in Nature World News.
Read more »
Dodgers vs.Yankees: What's changed since last time they squared off in 1981?What has changed since the last time the LA Dodgers faced off the NY Yankees in the World Series in 1981? Well, a lot.
Read more »
Dodgers vs.Yankees: What's changed since last time they squared off in 1981?What has changed since the last time the LA Dodgers faced off the NY Yankees in the World Series in 1981? Well, a lot.
Read more »
Dodgers vs.Yankees: What's changed since last time they squared off in 1981?What has changed since the last time the LA Dodgers faced off the NY Yankees in the World Series in 1981? Well, a lot.
Read more »
Dodgers vs.Yankees: What's changed since last time they squared off in 1981?What has changed since the last time the LA Dodgers faced off the NY Yankees in the World Series in 1981? Well, a lot.
Read more »