NASA Perplexed as Voyager 1 Transmits a Confusing Sequence of 1s and 0s from Space.

Voyager 1, the farthest man-made object from Earth, is transmitting a repetitive sequence of 1s and 0s that lack coherence. NASA scientists are making frantic efforts to resolve the malfunction from a distance of 24 billion kilometers (15 billion miles).While the spacecraft can still receive commands from Earth, it takes approximately 22.5 hours for messages to reach interstellar space.

Consequently, it will be days before experts can determine whether their endeavors to restore the probe’s nearly half-century-old computers have been successful.This is not the first instance of Voyager 1 transmitting random data. In 2022, the probe began sending back corrupted information due to a malfunctioning onboard computer.

NASA engineers were able to identify and rectify the issue, but it took several months to do so.

In this particular case, the glitch stems from a disruption in communication between one of the three onboard computers, known as the probe’s flight data system (FDS), and one of its subsystems, the telemetry modulation unit (TMU).Consequently, no scientific data regarding interstellar space is being received on Earth. Furthermore, the engineering data that provides insights into the probe’s condition and status is also in disarray.And yes, in case you were wondering, the engineers have attempted to resolve the problem by turning the FDS on and off.

A team at NASA is currently delving into decades-old documentation on the functioning of the probe and its computers – technology that is now extremely outdated and largely forgotten.

Today, the phone in your hand has the capability to process more than 100 billion instructions per second, while the computers on board the Voyager probes can only handle 8,000 instructions per second.Originally, the Voyager missions were not intended to endure for such a prolonged period. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were primarily designed to explore Jupiter and Saturn. However, they are now steadily venturing farther away from us into interstellar space.Placing another probe in the same position would necessitate several decades.

Scientists are hopeful that if the issues with Voyager 1’s outgoing data can be resolved, it will be able to continue its mission until its 50th anniversary.Nonetheless, the days of these probes are limited. Once they surpass the Oort Cloud and reach the distant fringes of the Kuiper Belt, their generators will eventually lose power, rendering them silent.Some individuals have proposed sending a final message to Voyager 1 before its communication system permanently fails. These “last words” could endure for thousands of years if encoded into the onboard computers’ memory.The most recent malfunction experienced by Voyager 1 serves as a poignant reminder: our time to bid farewell is running out.

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