Voyager 1 Fully Restored, Resumes Sending Valuable Interstellar Data

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has triumphantly restored its functionality, now fully operational and transmitting data from all four of its scientific instruments. This marks a significant turnaround since November 2023 when it began sending unintelligible data back to Earth, leaving scientists baffled.

Following a meticulous repair process that started in April 2024, the spacecraft began to send back not only engineering data but also valuable scientific data by mid-May. The mission team’s successful efforts led to the restoration of two initially non-responsive instruments, ensuring that all four instruments could once again collect and send back data on plasma waves, magnetic fields, and cosmic particles.

Voyager 1, launched in 1977 as part of a mission initially intended to last just five years, has exceeded all expectations by continuing to provide invaluable insights into our solar system and beyond for nearly 47 years.

While currently back to gathering critical interstellar data, NASA's team plans to conduct further maintenance, including resynchronizing the spacecraft’s onboard timekeeping and servicing its rarely used digital tape recorder.