NASA's Voyager finally phoned home with a device unused since 1981
Voyager 1, 15.4 billion miles from Earth in interstellar space, won't endure long
When the uncrewed spaceship became quiet, NASA's flight engineers may have concluded the 47-year-old mission had ended. Mission control could not reach the probe via its main radio transmitter.
On Oct. 16, flight controllers gave Voyager a regular heater command, causing a problem. NASA discovered two days later that Voyager's fault protection mechanism switched off its X-band transmitter, preventing a response. By Oct. 19, communication was over.
The flight crew seemed pessimistic.
Voyager 1 had a backup frequency, however it was much fainter. The aged spacecraft's vast distance made it uncertain if the second radio transmitter would work.
Days later, engineers with the Deep Space Network, a network of three massive radio dish arrays on Earth, detected the signal over the S-band transmitter. NASA said the equipment wasn't utilized since 1981.
"The team is now working to gather information that will help them figure out what happened and return Voyager 1 to normal operations," NASA stated in a mission update.
Voyager 1 and 2 have been going strong for nearly 50 years, exceeding their expected lifespans. In 1977, the duo was launched to explore Jupiter, Saturn, their moons, and Saturn's rings. Their five-year lifespan was for the two-planet voyage.
Engineers expanded their goals to encompass Uranus and Neptune after their initial accomplishment. The two spacecraft have examined four planets, 48 moons, and many magnetic fields and rings.
Voyager 1 entered interstellar space, loaded with debris blasted by dead stars millions of years ago, in August 2012. Voyager 1 and 2 are the only spacecraft to operate outside the sun's heliosphere.