NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has experienced a series of brief communication disruptions triggered by its fault protection system. The issue occurred after the team instructed the spacecraft to turn on one of its heaters, which activated the protective measure. This caused the X-band transmitter to shut down and switch to a weaker S-band transmitter.
Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is now traveling at over 38,000 miles per hour outside our galaxy, becoming increasingly distant from Earth. The spacecraft’s mission has evolved from exploring the solar system to investigating interstellar space.
The communication failure occurred twice, with the last instance occurring on October 18. NASA teams successfully reconnected with Voyager 1 on October 24 and are now assessing what caused the problem. To avoid triggering the fault protection system again, they have opted to continue using the S-band transmitter until the root cause is identified.
This issue marks the latest in a series of communication disruptions experienced by Voyager 1, following an earlier malfunction of a hardware component that encoded scientific data. With its advanced age, the spacecraft’s reliability is expected to decrease as more faults emerge. The investigation will likely take weeks to complete, with two-way communication times nearing two days long.
Source: https://spaceexplored.com/2024/11/02/voyager-1-moved-to-backup-comms-it-hasnt-used-in-over-40-years