Voyager 1 resurrected interstellar space, but for how long?

NASA engineers were able to breathe new life into Voyager 1, the spacecraft was launched in 1977 and re-interacted seven months ago after being silent. But now comes another challenge: maintaining as much of Voyager 1's scientific utility as possible by exploring an area no spacecraft has reached before.

Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2They are a treasure NASA Not only because they sent home amazing images of exoplanets, but in their decaying state, they are still doing science that cannot easily be duplicated.

They now exist in space beyond the orbits of galaxies Neptune And Pluto. Voyager 1 is 15 billion miles away Earth and Voyager 2 nearly 13 billion miles. Both have crossed the heliopause, from where the “solar wind” of particles flows the sun.

“They go somewhere where we don't have anything, we don't have any information.”NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said. “We know nothing about the interstellar medium. Is it a highly charged environment? Are there a lot of dust particles?

Even as Voyager continues its journey, engineers and scientists NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CaliforniaThey suffer loss Ed StoneScientist who led the mission from 1972 until his retirement in 2022. StoneFormer director JPLHe died on June 9 at the age of 88. “It's great. It's research. It's amazing.”said Stone want The Washington Post In 2013, when he and his colleagues determined that Voyager 1 had reached interstellar space.

Voyager 1 was operating four more science instruments during this extended phase of its mission, but on November 14 it suddenly stopped transmitting interpretable data. “Tiger Team” of Engineers JPL The next few months were spent diagnosing the problem: a faulty computer chip.

That labor process is almost complete. The data comes from four instruments, the project scientist said Linda SpilkerEngineers are still testing whether the data from the two instruments is fully usable.

However, no one can change the mortality rate of a spacecraft with a limited energy supply. Voyager 1 runs on fumes, or more accurately, on depleting energy derived from the radioactive decay of plutonium..

Voyagers have traveled so far the sun They cannot rely on solar energy and instead use a radioactive isotope thermoelectric generator. But an RTG doesn't last forever. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 will eventually quiet down as they continue through the galaxy. Scientists and Engineers NASA They hope Voyager 1 will continue to transmit data until September 5, 2027, the 50th anniversary of its launch.

“At some point, we'll have to start turning off scientific instruments one by one”said Spilker. “If we lose power, we can no longer keep the spacecraft on Earth. So [las Voyager] “They will continue to be what I like to think of as our ambassadors of peace.”.

In a sense, all of this is an advantage since the two Voyagers' primary mission is to explore exoplanets. Both visited Thursday And SatAnd so Voyager 2 went Uranus And Neptune Known as the “Grand Tour” of the outer solar system, it was made possible by the rare orbital arrangement of the planets. Voyager provided spectacular close-up images of the exoplanetsAnd the work is one of the greatest achievements NASA.

The gravitational slingshot of planetary encounters sent Voyager 1 out of the elliptical plane of the Solar System and Voyager 2 in the opposite direction. About four years ago, Voyager 1 encountered something unexpected: a phenomenon scientists call a pressure front. Jamie RankinThe deputy project scientist said the spacecraft's instruments detected a sudden change in the magnetic field of the interstellar environment and a sudden increase in particle density.

The reason for this change is not yet known. But scientists NASA They are keen to get all the data flowing back to normal to see if the pressure front is still detected. “Is the pressure front still there? Melroy said what is going on in this..

Voyager 1 is headed for the galaxy OphiuchusAccording to NASAAnd in about 38,000 years it will come within 1.7 light years of an ordinary star Little Dipper. But while it's been quiet for a long time, it has the equivalent of a message in a bottle: “Golden Record.”

The disc was curated by an astronomer-led team Carl Sagan and includes greetings in 55 languages, sounds of waves, wind and thunder, a whale song and music Beethoven up to Chuck Berry and a Navajo song. This golden record is accompanied by instructions to play it if the spacecraft one day finds its way into the hands of an intelligent being interested in discovering life. Earth.

“The feat will only be achieved if spaceships are invented and advanced space civilizations are in interstellar space”said Sagan. But scientists say that advanced space civilization may not be extraterrestrial. NASA. It is conceivable that a cosmic message in a bottle could one day be picked up by a human deep space probe eager to explore an ancient spacecraft.