By Free Republic | Created at 2024-10-31 18:53:18 | Updated at 2024-10-31 21:31:44
2 hours ago
Voyager 1 Just Phoned Home From 24 Billion Kilometers Away On A Transmitter Not Used Since 1981
IFL Science ^ | October 31, 2024 | Dr. Alfredo Carpineti
Posted on 10/31/2024 11:45:39 AM PDT by Red Badger
Communication with the craft was interrupted, but Voyager 1 itself found an unorthodox solution.
Voyager 1 has gone through a lot over the last 12 months.
Image credit: NASA
Voyager 1 continues to amaze. After 47 years, having crossed together with its twin into interstellar space, you’d think the spacecraft would stop surprising us. No chance. The probe had another glitch in the last few weeks that caused a loss of communication, but it managed to find a fix all by itself using hardware that had not been used since 1981.
The probe is more than 24 billion kilometers (15 billion miles) from Earth. It takes over 22 and a half hours for a signal to get to the spacecraft or come from it. On October 16, the ground team asked the spacecraft to turn on one of its heaters. Voyager 1 gets really cold out there and to work its internal system, it needs to be kept warm. The spacecraft is powered by radioactivity, and while the energy source is depleting, it still had plenty of juice for heating.
But something went wrong. On October 18, the spacecraft did not respond. Voyager 1 uses an X-band radio transmitter to communicate with the Deep Space Network. The mission team knows its spacecraft and worked out that the command might have triggered the fault protection system, leading to a lower rate of data transmission with a change to the signal from the X-band transmitter.
The team searched for that signal and were able to find it. The situation was a bit of a hiccup, but didn’t seem to cause any alarm. Not like last year, when the spacecraft started producing gibberish.
With that in mind, the team started to look deeper. Then, on October 19, in a concerning development, the signal stopped altogether. Luckily, Voyager 1’s onboard computer somehow found a solution – a truly left-field one.
“The flight team suspected that Voyager 1’s fault protection system was triggered twice more and that it turned off the X-band transmitter and switched to a second radio transmitter called the S-band,” NASA’s Tony Greicius writes in the Voyager Blog.
“While the S-band uses less power, Voyager 1 had not used it to communicate with Earth since 1981. It uses a different frequency than the X-band transmitters signal is significantly fainter. The flight team was not certain the S-band could be detected at Earth due to the spacecraft’s distance, but engineers with the Deep Space Network were able to find it.”
The team has confirmed that the S-band transmitter is working well, even after all this time and at such an incredible distance. They are currently working to restore the spacecraft to its normal operations.
Everything about the Voyager probes continues to be a testament to the engineering team that designed them and those who keep working on them. The fact that they are still going is truly exceptional.
TOPICS: Astronomy; Computers/Internet; History; Travel
KEYWORDS: nasa; spacex
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1 posted on 10/31/2024 11:45:39 AM PDT by Red Badger
To: Red Badger
2 posted on 10/31/2024 11:46:11 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire, or both.)
To: MtnClimber; SunkenCiv; mowowie; SuperLuminal; Cottonbay
V-ger Phone home Ping!................
3 posted on 10/31/2024 11:46:12 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
To: Red Badger
4 posted on 10/31/2024 11:46:51 AM PDT by Fido969
To: Red Badger
5 posted on 10/31/2024 11:46:58 AM PDT by knarf
To: Red Badger
Maybe ET was on the Voyager.
6 posted on 10/31/2024 11:48:06 AM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
To: Red Badger
.. - -.-. .- — . ..-. .-. -— — .—. .-.. .- -. . - -.-. .-.. .- .. .-. .
7 posted on 10/31/2024 11:48:36 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
To: BenLurkin
8 posted on 10/31/2024 11:49:37 AM PDT by knarf
To: T.B. Yoits
I T C A M E F R O M P L A N E T C L A I R E
9 posted on 10/31/2024 11:49:44 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
To: Red Badger
How far away is that? Can’t we use miles?
10 posted on 10/31/2024 11:50:17 AM PDT by enumerated (81 million votes my ass)
To: Red Badger
The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz).
The X band is the designation for a band of frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is rather indefinitely set at approximately 7.0–11.2 GHz. In radar engineering, the frequency range is specified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as 8.0–12.0 GHz. The X band is used for radar, satellite communication, and wireless computer networks.
11 posted on 10/31/2024 11:50:42 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
To: Red Badger
Well, that was a suspended interest story if there ever was one.
12 posted on 10/31/2024 11:50:46 AM PDT by aspasia
To: Red Badger
13 posted on 10/31/2024 11:52:21 AM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
To: BenLurkin
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL!!!
14 posted on 10/31/2024 11:52:28 AM PDT by dp0622 (Tried a coup, a fake tax story, tramp slander, Russia nonsense, impeachment and a virus. They lost.)
To: Red Badger
“If you kids don’t stop fighting I’m going to turn this thing around and go back home!”
To: Red Badger
If it’s smart, it will just keep right on going...
Don’t come back, it wouldn’t recognize the place.
16 posted on 10/31/2024 11:53:09 AM PDT by lgjhn23 ("On the 8th day, Satan created the progressive liberal to destroy all the good that God created..." )
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