Aug 31, 2022
The 45-year-old probe is aging gracefully
Posted by Gemechu Taye in categories: engineering, habitats, health
Since May, the engineering team with NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft had been trying to solve a mystery. The 45-year-old spacecraft seemed to be in excellent condition, receiving and executing commands from Earth, along with gathering and returning science data — but the probe’s attitude articulation and control system (AACS) was sending garbled information about its health and activities to mission controllers.
The AACS controls the spacecraft’s orientation and keeps Voyager 1’s high-gain antenna pointed precisely at Earth, enabling it to send data home. Though all signs suggested that the AACS was still working, the telemetry data was invalid.
While the spacecraft continues to return science data and otherwise operate as normal, the mission team is searching for the source of a system data issue.
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