AFTER months of confusion, a probe floating in deep space has resumed normal transmissions back to Earth.
NASA announced Friday that its Voyager 1 spacecraft was fully operational for the first time in months.
“We’re back baby!” agency announced on X, earlier Twitter.
“Our Voyager 1 spacecraft is conducting normally Science operation for the first time since November 2023.”
Voyager’s four instruments, which probe plasma waves, magnetic fields and particles, all returned “usable” data, the agency said.
The probe’s operation stalled when a technical problem arose late last year.
Voyager 1 began beaming nonsense back to Earth – seemingly marking the end of its historic mission.
The mission team asked the spacecraft to return technical data containing information about them health and condition and partially solved the problem in April.
Two of the probe’s science instruments returned to normal operating modes, but the other two needed more work.
Just last month, engineers completed the second step of the repair process, commanding the spacecraft to begin returning science data.
Despite this success, some work is still needed. Engineers plan to perform a number of tasks in the near future future.
This involves resynchronizing the timing software in the spacecraft’s onboard computers so that they can execute commands at the correct time.
The team will also repair the digital tape recorder that collects data for the plasma wave instrument that sends information back to Earth twice a year.
Voygaer 1 launched on September 5, 1977, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, a much-visited SpaceX launch site.
The start of the probe came on heels its sister ship Voyager 2, which lifted off on August 20. This year will be the 47th year of operation.
In addition to being NASA’s longest-running and most distant spacecraft, the pair are the only ones directly sampling interstellar space.
This term refers to the region outside the heliosphere, or the region around the Sun and Solar System affected by magnetic fields and the solar wind.
No spacecraft has gotten further than Voyager 1, which is currently more than 15 billion miles from Earth. Voyager 2, by comparison, is more than 12 billion miles away.
Both probes flew past Jupiter and Saturn, while Voyager 2 also missed Uranus and Neptune.
Voyager 1 is known for discovering a thin ring around Jupiter and two moons called Thebes and Metis.
The probe also located five new moons and the G ring around Saturn.
Voyager 1 timeline
Here’s a look at NASA’s most distant probe currently exploring deep space
September 1977: Voyager 1 launches from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida. It is carried aboard the Titan IIIE-Centaur rocket.
March 1979: Voyager 1 makes closest approach to Jupiter.
November 1980: The spacecraft made its closest approach to Saturn.
December 2004: Voyager 1 reached the terminal discharge crossing – the first boundary marking the end of the Solar System – into the heliosheath.
August 2012: Voyager 1 enters interstellar space for the first time.
September 2017: NASA scientists celebrate four decades since the launch of the spacecraft.
November 2023: The on-board computer malfunctions and Voyager 1 begins sending meaningless data back to Earth.
June 14, 2024: After a series of repairs, the probe is declared fully operational for the first time in more than half a year.
FUTURE: Scientists predict the spacecraft will reach the inner edge of the Oort Cloud – the shell of icy bodies surrounding the Solar System – in 300 years
Each craft carries a gold-plated gramophone record of the sights and sounds of Earth in case you encounter life in deep space.
The content of the record was selected by a committee headed by Cornell Universityis Carl Sagan.
The content includes 115 images and spoken greetings in 55 languages.