Voyager 1 Returns after Data Outage
Interstellar Spacecraft Resumes Communications
NASA announced that its Voyager 1 spacecraft has resumed sending usable data after a communication outage that had lasted since November 2023.Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object from Earth, traveling more than 14 billion miles from the Sun. It entered interstellar space in August 2012, making it the first spacecraft to do so.
According to NASA, the data outage was caused by an issue with the spacecraft's Attitude Control System (ACS). The ACS is responsible for maintaining Voyager 1's orientation in space. Without a functioning ACS, the spacecraft cannot point its antenna towards Earth and send data.
NASA engineers were able to remotely fix the issue by sending a series of commands to the spacecraft. Voyager 1 is now able to send health and status data back to Earth, but the next step is to enable it to start sending science data again.
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