SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – NASA engineers have been left flummoxed by seemingly nonsensical data being transmitted by an old spacecraft billions of miles away.
NASA Voyager 1 is one of just two spacecrafts, along with Voyager 2, which are able to submit data in interstellar space. The probe, launched into space 45 years ago, is able to both execute and receive commands from scientists, as well as both gather and send scientific data from its position 14.5 billion miles away from Earth.
However, the mission team found that recent readouts from the spacecraft's attitude articulation and control system, AACS, don't reflect what's actually happening onboard, according to a release.
The AACS controls Voyager 1's orientation and keeps its antenna pointed precisely at Earth, which enables it to send data.
Recent telemetry data the scientists have received appears invalid. Officials said the data looks either randomly generated or does not reflect any possible state the AACS could be in.
The spacecraft appears to be operating normally otherwise. The signal has also not weakened, indicating that the antenna remains in its prescribed orientation towards Earth.
Officials said the team will continue to monitor the signal closely to determine whether the invalid data is coming directly from the AACS or another system is involved in sending telemetry data.
"A mystery like this is sort of par for the course at this stage of the Voyager mission," Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager 1 and 2 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said in a statement. "The spacecraft are both almost 45 years old, which is far beyond what the mission planners anticipated. We’re also in interstellar space – a high-radiation environment that no spacecraft have flown in before. So there are some big challenges for the engineering team. But I think if there’s a way to solve this issue with the AACS, our team will find it."
The team will continue to monitor the signal closely as they try to determine whether the invalid data is coming directly from the AACS or another system involved in producing and sending telemetry data.
It's unclear how and if the problem will impact the spacecraft's ability to receive and transmit data.
Dodd added that either the mission team will find a solution or be forced to adapt to the changes. In the meantime, officials said scientists plan to make the most of the data they continue to receive from the spacecraft.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
Related
Related
Related
