Voyager 1 Faces Major Glitch as NASA Rushes to Fix It

Dec 15, 2023, 11:20 IST

Harshit Sabarwal

All Images: NASA, Reuters

Dec 15, 2023, 11:20 IST

Harshit Sabarwal

A Repetitive Jumble of 1s and 0s

NASA's Voyager 1, which was launched nearly 50 years ago, has experienced a glitch. A report by Science Alert said the space probe was sending repetitive jumble of 1s and 0s that didn't make any sense. NASA has been desperately trying to fix the glitch.

Voyager 1 Still Able to Receive Commands

Despite the glitch, Voyager 1 was able to receive commands from Earth. However, messages to interstellar space required approximately 22.5 hours of travel. This meant it would take days before experts know if their attempts to restore the probe worked or not.

What Caused the Glitch?

According to Science Alert, the glitch came from a disruption in communication in one of the three computers onboard the Voyager 1, called the probe's flight data system (FDS), and one of the probe's subsystems- the telemetry modulation unit (TMU).

A Similar Telemetry Glitch seen in 2022

Last year too, a similar telemetry glitch was seen in Voyager 1 when the probe started returning some of its data through a broken computer onboard, corrupting the outgoing messages. NASA was able to resolve the glitch, but it took several months.

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