NASA engineers have identified the reason behind the garbled signals being emitted by the Voyager 1 spacecraft, which was launched on 5 September 1977 to explore the outer Solar System. Currently located 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away from Earth, Voyager 1 continues to send radio signals back to Earth as it ventures further into space.
Since November, the spacecraft has been transmitting incomprehensible data, prompting engineers to investigate the issue. In a recent development, engineers sent a command to the probe's flight data subsystem (FDS) to gather information. The response indicated that a memory corruption within the FDS is likely causing the problem.
NASA elaborated on the situation in a blog post, suggesting that a specific chip responsible for storing part of the affected FDS memory may be malfunctioning. The exact cause of the issue remains uncertain, with two potential explanations being an impact from an energetic space particle or the natural degradation of the chip after 46 years of operation.
While resolving the problem may take several months, engineers are optimistic that they can bypass the damaged chip and restore functionality to the FDS. Once the system is operational again, Voyager 1 is expected to resume sending clear and readable radio signals from beyond our solar system.
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