NASA announced that it has successfully recovered the farthest man-made object in space, after it became useless due to a system failure in November 2023.
Several months after a serious system failure caused the Voyager 1 spacecraft to stop operating, NASA announced last week that it had successfully restored all data and equipment on the spacecraft. For nearly half a century, Voyager 1 has provided information about planets outside the solar system.
“The spacecraft has continued to collect information about space and the stars,” NASA said in its announcement about Voyager 1, the furthest man-made object in space.
Since the problem appeared in November 2023, NASA engineers have worked to diagnose and resolve the problem. According to the New York Times, this is a tedious and complicated process because it takes nearly 2 days to send and receive information from Voyager 1. Currently, this artificial object is more than 15 billion miles from Earth (about 24 billion km).
In February, Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd said the issue preventing the spacecraft from sending scientific and engineering data back to Earth was the “most serious situation” she had faced.
Voyager 1 and its twin probe Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 with a mission to explore planets outside the solar system. At that time, NASA took advantage of the gravity of four consecutive planets, including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, to help the ship move without consuming much energy.
After the above process was successful, Voyager 1 continued its journey to the edge of the solar system in 1990. In 2012, this man-made object became the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space . Since then, it has continuously collected data about the heliosphere and space around the Sun.
The recovery of Voyager 1 gradually turned positive in April, when NASA reported that it had succeeded in getting the probe to send “usable” data about its technical systems and condition . At the end of May, the repair team restored function to Voyager 1’s two science instruments, allowing it to transmit data and continue its mission.
However, Voyager 1’s lifespan does not seem to last long. NASA estimates that the nuclear-powered generators on Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are likely to be decommissioned by 2025.
