Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory worked to restore communication by dividing affected code into sections and moving it to different portions of FDS memory
Launched in 1977 to study Jupiter and Saturn, currently located in interstellar space
Lost contact with Voyager 1 in November 2023 due to bad chip affecting Flight Data Subsystem (FDS) memory
NASA's Voyager 1 resumes communication after faulty computer chip issue in interstellar space
Received confirmation of modification success on April 20, 2024
Took about 22.5 hours for a signal to travel between the spacecraft and Earth due to vast distance involved
NASA's Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, has resumed sending understandable data after a communication issue caused by a faulty computer chip. The spacecraft, launched in 1977 to study Jupiter and Saturn, is currently located in interstellar space. In November 2023, NASA lost contact with Voyager 1 due to the bad chip affecting the Flight Data Subsystem (FDS) memory. Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) worked to restore communication by dividing the affected code into sections and moving it to different portions of the FDS memory, ensuring proper functioning.
Voyager 1 is more than 15 billion miles away from Earth, and it takes about 22.5 hours for a signal to travel between the spacecraft and Earth due to the vast distance involved. NASA engineers sent a command up to Voyager 1 on April 18, and on April 20, they received a response confirming that the modification had worked.
The team plans to move and adjust additional portions of FDS software affected by the issue in coming months.
Sources:
NASA (https://apnews.com/article/nasa-voyager-spacecraft-contact)
Voyager 1 stopped sending readable data back to NASA on November 14, 2023.
The issue was traced to one of the spacecraft’s three onboard computers called the Flight Data Subsystem (FDS), which is responsible for packaging data before sending it back to Earth.
A faulty chip used for storing a portion of FDS memory rendered the code unusable, but replacing it was not possible due to Voyager 1’s location in interstellar space.
Engineers divided the affected code into sections and planned to move them to various locations within the FDS, ensuring they would work together as a whole.
On April 18, engineers transmitted the changes to FDS memory. The signal takes about 22.5 hours each way between Earth and Voyager 1 due to the vast distance involved.
On April 20, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory received a response from Voyager 1 confirming that the modification had worked, allowing engineers to check the health and status of the spacecraft.
In coming months, engineers plan to move and adjust additional portions of FDS software affected by the issue.
Accuracy
A faulty chip used for storing a portion of FDS memory rendered the code unusable.
Engineers divided the affected code into sections and planned to move them to various locations within the FDS.
NASA engineers discovered that a single chip responsible for storing part of the system’s memory, including some of the computer’s software code, was not working properly
The team opted to store affected code from the chip elsewhere in the system’s memory and adjust it to ensure proper functioning
Accuracy
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The article contains an appeal to authority with the quote 'An engineer with NASA’s Deep Space Network was able to decode it.' This implies that the engineer's ability to decode the signal lends credibility to the information being decoded. However, this does not necessarily mean that the information itself is accurate or true.
An engineer with NASA’s Deep Space Network was able to decode it.
