Voyager spacecraft from 1977 are still running today, thanks to smart engineering and power-saving tricks. NASA engineers have kept 1970s tech working for nearly five decades in deep space. Know more below.

'The 47-year-old marvel': How engineers are keeping a 1970s spacecraft alive in interstellar space

Some burn with iron rain, others slice with glass storms, and even our nearest neighbours turn hostile. These exoplanets remind us that survival beyond Earth may not just be difficult, it may be impossible.

Would you survive these planets? 6 horrifying worlds that kill with fire, glass and crushing pressure

Its longevity and precision are the result of carefully engineered instruments, thrusters, and power systems that were decades ahead of their time.

The secrets of Voyager 2: Instruments, thrusters and power that defy time and space

NASA’s 47-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft established communication with Earth on October 24 using a 1981 radio transmitter after a technical issue resulted in a days-long disruption in contact, as the team continues to resolve the issue.

Launched in September 1977, components of Voyager 1 were turned off to conserve power, enabling it to send back data from 15 billion miles away from Earth.

It is the farthest spacecraft from Earth that continues to observe interstellar space. In recent months, it has faced many technical issues due to its age, however, the team keeps resolving the issues creatively so it continues its journey through the space.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/new-mars-photo-shows-the-dying-spot-of-a-chopperand-a-missions-kick-off-point-772289">New Mars photo shows the dying spot of a chopper...and a mission's kick-off point</a>

<h2>Voyager 1 faces technical issues</h2>

On October 16, the team sent a command to turn on its heater, which helps reverse radiation damage to the spacecraft. This triggered the autonomous fault protection system, which shut down some non-essential systems to conserve power. The team discovered the issue when the Deep Space Network could not detect the spacecraft’s response signal on October 18, reported CNN.

The communication with Voyager 1 is overlooked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California through the Deep Space Network. The spacecraft takes about 23 hours to communicate a message one way.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-captures-eerie-green-swirls-from-space-on-nevada-lake-heres-what-it-is-772248">NASA captures eerie green swirls from space on Nevada Lake. Here's what it is</a>

Voyager 1 has been using an X-band radio transmitter to communicate, while the S-band, which uses a different frequency hasn’t been used since 1981 as its signal is much weaker.

While the Voyager 1’s team were not sure whether the S-band signal could be detected, Deep Space Network engineers detected the signal and were able to locate the spacecraft.

“The S-band signal is too weak to use long-term,” said Bruce Waggoner, the Voyager mission assurance manager. “So far, the team has not been able to use it to get telemetry (information about the health and status of the spacecraft), let alone science data. But it allows us to at least send commands and make sure the spacecraft is still pointed at Earth.”

The team will not turn on the X-band transmitter until it figures out what triggered the fault protection system, which may take weeks.

(With inputs from agencies)

NASA’s 47-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft established communication with Earth on October 24 using a 1981 radio transmitter after a technical issue resulted in a days-long disruption in contact, as the team continues to resolve the issue.

NASA’s 47-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft established communication with Earth on October 24 using a 1981 radio transmitter after a technical issue resulted in a days-long disruption in contact, as the team continues to resolve the issue. Launched in September 1977, components of Voyager 1 were turned off to conserve power, enabling it to send back data from 15 billion miles away from Earth. It is the farthest spacecraft from Earth that continues to observe interstellar space. In recent months, it has faced many technical issues due to its age, however, the team keeps resolving the issues creatively so it continues its journey through the space. Also read | New Mars photo shows the dying spot of a chopper...and a mission's kick-off point Voyager 1 faces technical issues On October 16, the team sent a command to turn on its heater, which helps reverse radiation damage to the spacecraft. This triggered the autonomous fault protection system, which shut down some non-essential systems to conserve power. The team discovered the issue when the Deep Space Network could not detect the spacecraft’s response signal on October 18, reported CNN. The communication with Voyager 1 is overlooked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California through the Deep Space Network. The spacecraft takes about 23 hours to communicate a message one way. Also read | NASA captures eerie green swirls from space on Nevada Lake. Here's what it is Voyager 1 has been using an X-band radio transmitter to communicate, while the S-band, which uses a different frequency hasn’t been used since 1981 as its signal is much weaker. While the Voyager 1’s team were not sure whether the S-band signal could be detected, Deep Space Network engineers detected the signal and were able to locate the spacecraft. “The S-band signal is too weak to use long-term,” said Bruce Waggoner, the Voyager mission assurance manager. “So far, the team has not been able to use it to get telemetry (information about the health and status of the spacecraft), let alone science data. But it allows us to at least send commands and make sure the spacecraft is still pointed at Earth.” The team will not turn on the X-band transmitter until it figures out what triggered the fault protection system, which may take weeks. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA’s Voyager 1 re-establishes contact using 1981 radio transmitter

NASA achieved a historic feat after its deep space communication technology aboard the Psyche spacecraft broke all records and showcased its capabilities in transmitting messages using lasers from deep space to Earth.

NASA achieved a historic feat after its deep space communication technology aboard the Psyche spacecraft broke all records and showcased its capabilities in transmitting messages using lasers from deep space to Earth. This success has now increased the possibility of future spacecraft utilising optical communications to enable more complex and faster data transmission. NASA's Psyche spacecraft, which is currently moving towards the main asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, has been equipped with the Deep Space Optical Communications technology and was created by the scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Also Read: Voyager 1 ends 'radio silence' thanks to NASA's software repair 15 billion miles away from Earth Although the primary communication system of the spacecraft is dependent on radio frequency, the demo of optical communications has shown that it is a potential game-changer in deep space communication. A revolution in deep space communication? The optical communications demo which took place on April 8 ended successfully as a copy of engineering data was transmitted from over 140 million miles (226 million kilometres) away, which is 1½ times the distance between Earth and the Sun. Project’s operations lead at JPL Meera Srinivasan said, “We downlinked about 10 minutes of duplicated spacecraft data during a pass on April 8. Until then, we’d been sending test and diagnostic data in our downlinks from Psyche." “This represents a significant milestone for the project by showing how optical communications can interface with a spacecraft’s radio frequency comms system,” she added. The laser communications technology used in this demo has been used for transmitting messages from deep space at a speed which is 10 to 100 times faster in comparison to the current state-of-the-art radio frequency systems which is used by deep space missions. Watch: NASA restores contact with Voyager 1 after months of silence The experiment was able to achieve a maximum data transmission rate of 267 megabits per second (Mbps) on December 11, 2023, from the near-infrared downlink laser of the light laser transceiver. This was achieved when a 15-second ultra-high-definition video was beamed by the spacecraft to Earth from 19 million miles away. The data transmission is likely to decrease as the spacecraft ventures farther away from Earth. During the April 8 test, data was being transmitted by the spacecraft at a maximum rate of 25 Mbps, which is beyond the project’s goal of transmitting at least 1 Mbps from that distance. “After receiving the data from the DSN and Palomar, we verified the optically downlinked data at JPL. It was a small amount of data downlinked over a short time frame, but the fact we’re doing this now has surpassed all of our expectations,” said Ken Andrews, who is a project flight operations lead at JPL. (With inputs from agencies)

Another message from deep space! NASA spacecraft beams laser from 140mn miles away

NASA spacecraft nears Red Planet on mission to detect 'marsquakes'

The US space agency&#39;s Cassini spacecraft will end its 13-year mission to Saturn in mid-September by transmitting data until the final moment before it plunges into the ringed planet&#39;s atmosphere, officials said on Tuesday.

Cassini, the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, will make the last of 22 farewell dives between the planet&#39;s rings and surface on Sept. 15. The spacecraft will then burn up as it heads straight into the gas giant&#39;s crushing atmosphere.

Cassini&#39;s final dive will end a mission that provided groundbreaking discoveries that included seasonal changes on Saturn, the moon Titan&#39;s resemblance to a primordial Earth, and a global ocean on the moon Enceladus with ice plumes spouting from its surface.

&quot;The mission has been insanely, wildly, beautifully successful, and it&#39;s coming to an end in about two weeks,&quot; Curt Niebur, Cassini program scientist, said on a telephone conference call with reporters from NASA&#39;s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

Cassini&#39;s final photo as it heads into Saturn&#39;s atmosphere will likely be of propellers, or gaps in the rings caused by moonlets, said project scientist Linda Spilker.

The spacecraft will provide near real-time data on the atmosphere until it loses contact with Earth at 4:54 am&nbsp;PDT (1154 GMT) on Sept. 15, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.

Spilker said Cassini&#39;s latest data on the rings had shown they had a lighter mass than forecast. That suggests they are younger than expected, at about 120 million years, and thus were created after the birth of the solar system, she said.

During its final orbits between the atmosphere and the rings, Cassini also studied Saturn&#39;s atmosphere and took measurements to determine the size of the planet&#39;s rocky core.

Cassini has been probing Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, and its entourage of 62 known moons since July 2004. It has provided enough data for almost 4,000 scientific papers.

Since the craft is running low on fuel, NASA is crashing it into Saturn to avoid any chance Cassini could someday collide with Titan, Enceladus or any other moon that has the potential to support indigenous microbial life.

By destroying the spacecraft, NASA will ensure that any hitchhiking Earth microbes still alive on Cassini will not contaminate the moons for future study.

Cassini, the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, will make the last of 22 farewell dives between the planet's rings and surface on Sept. 15.

The US space agency's Cassini spacecraft will end its 13-year mission to Saturn in mid-September by transmitting data until the final moment before it plunges into the ringed planet's atmosphere, officials said on Tuesday. Cassini, the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, will make the last of 22 farewell dives between the planet's rings and surface on Sept. 15. The spacecraft will then burn up as it heads straight into the gas giant's crushing atmosphere. Cassini's final dive will end a mission that provided groundbreaking discoveries that included seasonal changes on Saturn, the moon Titan's resemblance to a primordial Earth, and a global ocean on the moon Enceladus with ice plumes spouting from its surface. "The mission has been insanely, wildly, beautifully successful, and it's coming to an end in about two weeks," Curt Niebur, Cassini program scientist, said on a telephone conference call with reporters from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Cassini's final photo as it heads into Saturn's atmosphere will likely be of propellers, or gaps in the rings caused by moonlets, said project scientist Linda Spilker. The spacecraft will provide near real-time data on the atmosphere until it loses contact with Earth at 4:54 am PDT (1154 GMT) on Sept. 15, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said. Spilker said Cassini's latest data on the rings had shown they had a lighter mass than forecast. That suggests they are younger than expected, at about 120 million years, and thus were created after the birth of the solar system, she said. During its final orbits between the atmosphere and the rings, Cassini also studied Saturn's atmosphere and took measurements to determine the size of the planet's rocky core. Cassini has been probing Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, and its entourage of 62 known moons since July 2004. It has provided enough data for almost 4,000 scientific papers. Since the craft is running low on fuel, NASA is crashing it into Saturn to avoid any chance Cassini could someday collide with Titan, Enceladus or any other moon that has the potential to support indigenous microbial life. By destroying the spacecraft, NASA will ensure that any hitchhiking Earth microbes still alive on Cassini will not contaminate the moons for future study.

NASA to crash US spacecraft into Saturn, 13-year mission to complete soon

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'The 47-year-old marvel': How engineers are keeping a 1970s spacecraft alive in interstellar space

6 horrifying worlds that kill with fire, glass and crushing pressure

Secrets of Voyager 2: Instruments, thrusters and power that defy time and space

NASA’s Voyager 1 re-establishes contact using 1981 radio transmitter

Another message from deep space! NASA spacecraft beams laser from 140mn miles away

NASA spacecraft nears Red Planet on mission to detect 'marsquakes'

NASA to crash US spacecraft into Saturn, 13-year mission to complete soon