NASA’s Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, has resumed sending scientific data. According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Voyager 1’s four instruments are working again after a computer issue in November. The team was able to retrieve meaningful data from Voyager 1 in April and recently instructed it to resume studying its environment.
Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is currently traveling through interstellar space, the region between star systems. Prior to reaching this area, the spacecraft made discoveries such as a thin ring around Jupiter and several of Saturn’s moons. Voyager 1’s instruments are specifically designed to gather information about plasma waves, magnetic fields, and particles.
Voyager 1 is located more than 15 billion miles (24.14 billion kilometers) from Earth, while its counterpart, Voyager 2, is over 12 billion miles (19.31 billion kilometers) away in interstellar space as well.
The Associated Press reports that NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, the farthest from Earth, has resumed conducting scientific research following an earlier malfunction. This milestone marks a significant achievement, allowing the spacecraft to continue its mission of exploring interstellar space.
This development is a testament to the ingenuity and dedication of the team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who successfully resolved the computer problem that had disrupted Voyager 1’s operations. With its instruments back online, Voyager 1 is once again collecting valuable data that will contribute to our understanding of the universe.
Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 has already provided groundbreaking insights into the outer reaches of our solar system, including discoveries about Jupiter, Saturn, and their moons. Now, as it ventures further into interstellar space, Voyager 1 is poised to uncover even more mysteries that have eluded researchers for decades.