NASA seeks to understand what is wrong with Voyager

Launched 44 years ago, the Voyager 1 probe continues its journey through interstellar space.

But, NASA revealed on Twitter this Thursday that it was investigating "a mystery" concerning the famous space probe.

We're investigating a mystery with @NASAVoyager 1.

While the 45-year-old spacecraft continues to return science data and otherwise operate as normal, some system readouts aren't reflecting exactly what's happening onboard.

https://t.co/yTFQ4SsOCb

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) May 19, 2022

Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "

", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I ACCEPT

And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.

Voyager 1 is 23.3 billion kilometers from Earth, but this distant distance does not prevent it from sending valuable scientific data.

The engineers of the American space agency can also continue to send him commands to execute.

But they are currently having a problem with the AACS (for "attitude articulation and control system").

This device makes it possible to control the orientation of the probe, explains

, but also to direct the antenna.

This must indeed always be oriented towards our planet.

No serious problem

“All signs suggest AACS is still working, but the telemetry data it returns is invalid,” NASA found.

This problem has so far had no serious consequences.

The fault protection system did not activate.

In this case, only the primary activities of the probe would be operational.

NASA was pleased to see that "Voyager 1's signal has not weakened either, suggesting that the high-gain antenna remains in its prescribed orientation with Earth."

The engineers will continue their examinations.

In the meantime, they adapt.

Given the distance between Voyager 1 and the base, an order takes two days to be sent and received back.

NASA is well aware that the probe is approaching 45 years of age and that it could fail at any time.

Science

James Webb: The first photos of the telescope are simply breathtaking

Science

March: The Ingenuity helicopter photographed the landing zone of the Perseverance rover

• Space

• Nasa

• Probe

• Science