Voyager 1 spacecraft News: Scientists have received great news from about 24 billion kilometers away. NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, which was sitting ‘silent’ since November last year, has completely recovered. According to a report, all four science instruments of the spacecraft have started sending important data to Earth. In November 2023, the spacecraft stopped sending readable data to Earth. The investigation was handed over to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Nasa JPL). The team discovers a malfunctioning chip that is hampering the mission.
The data that scientists get from Voyager 1 is in binary code i.e. 0 and 1. When the spacecraft faced a problem, it started sending unclear data. Scientists were anticipating such a situation because the spacecraft is 46 years old.
Scientists got success in April, when it started sending readable data to Earth again. However, even then only its two science instruments were able to function properly. Now it has been revealed that all four science instruments of Voyager 1 are working properly.
To overcome the problem, scientists used coding. The Voyager spacecraft was launched in the year 1977. Due to being 24 billion kilometers away from the Earth, its message reaches the Earth very late. Whenever a message is sent from Earth to Voyager 1, it takes 22.5 hours to reach the spacecraft.
After the success of Voyager 1, scientists launched Voyager 2 spacecraft in the year 2018. Both spacecraft have taken ‘Golden Records’ with them. It is a 12-inch gold-plated copper disc, whose purpose is to convey the story of our world i.e. Earth to the extraterrestrials. The purpose of Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft is to study the systems of Jupiter and Saturn.
