Forty-five years after its launch, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft continues its journey far beyond our solar system.
Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 left our solar system in 12 years and entered interstellar space in 2012.
Despite its advanced age and distance of 14.5 billion miles (23.3 billion kilometers) from Earth, the probe continues to send more scientific data as it moves forward to uncover the vast unknown to the galaxy.
However, new data sent by Voyager 1 has confused NASA engineers from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
On Wednesday, NASA said that while the probe was still working properly, readings from its articulation and control system (AACS) did not match the spacecraft’s movements and orientation, suggesting the spacecraft was confused about its location in space.
AACS is essential for Voyager, as it ensures that the spacecraft’s high-gain antenna remains pointed at Earth so that it can send data back to NASA.
“Such a mystery is the norm for the Voyager mission at this stage,” said Susanne Dodd, Voyager 1 and 2 Project Manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“Both spacecraft are almost 45 years old, which is far beyond what the mission planned,” NASA said, adding that Voyager 1’s twin, Voyager 2, was behaving normally.
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NASA said that AACS on Voyager 1 sends randomly generated data that does not “reflect what is actually happening on board.”
Due to the interstellar location of Voyager, it takes 20 hours and 33 minutes for light to travel in one direction, so it takes two days to call and answer a message between NASA and Voyager.
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So far, NASA’s engineering team has found that the spacecraft’s antenna is aligned – it receives and executes commands from NASA and sends data back to Earth – even if the system data shows otherwise.
“Until the nature of the problem is better understood, the team cannot predict whether this could affect how long the spacecraft can collect and transmit scientific data,” NASA said in a statement.
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