NASA's Voyager 1 is sending strage telemetry data from outside our Solar System

(NASA/JPL)

NASA's Voyager 1 probe is sending incorrect or randomly generated telemetry data, concluded the mission team.

The probe itself is in working condition, but the engineers are looking for a possible source of the problem.

The Voyager 1 and 2 probes were launched in 1977, their initial service life was five years. During that time the devices were supposed to study the outer planets of the solar system.

However, both ships are still working. Even more, a few years ago they left the heliosphere and went into interstellar space.

Voyager 1 is the most distant man-made object from Earth, at a distance of 155.64 astronomical units from our planet.

The spacecraft is so far, that radio signals from and to ground stations take 20 hours 33 minutes.

Now, the Voyager 1 team reported the discovery of an anomaly in the operation of the Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS).

The error probably comes from the AACS’s high-gain antenna, which must always be directed towards the Earth in order to maintain communication.

The data shows that the system is functioning, the device is not in safe mode, and its antenna is oriented correctly,

However, the incoming telemetry seems to be incorrect: the data may be randomly generated or does not reflect the real state of the system, said the team.

Till this point, it is not yet clear where exactly the incorrect data comes from, if directly from AACS or from another system involved in the creation and sending of telemetry data.

If NASA’s engineers find the source of the problem, they will upgrade the software or switch to backup systems. They plan to do the same with the Voyager 1 engines.

However, if the problem cannot be solved, then perhaps the team will find a way to adjust the work with the device in the new conditions.

They hope that the malfunction does not interfere with the operation of the old spacecraft.

Source:

• NASA JPL: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/engineers-investigating-nasas-voyager-1-telemetry-data
• Live Science: https://www.livescience.com/voyager-1-telemetry-issue

#space #science #voyager1 #nftmc #learnwithsteem #news