Celestial Voyager 1 Sends Back Repeating Patterns Of 1s And 0s From Interstellar Space

[Heliobas Disciple]

Computer glitch on Voyager 1. No geek squad in interstellar space... But it would be fascinating if they gave the messages to an AI and it could translate what was being jarbled. imho.

Voyager 1 Sends Back Repeating Patterns Of 1s And 0s From Interstellar Space

It's as if it were "stuck".

www.iflscience.com

(fair use applies)


Voyager 1 Sends Back Repeating Patterns Of 1s And 0s From Interstellar Space
It's as if it were "stuck".
James Felton
PUBLISHED December 13, 2023

Voyager 1 is the second-longest operating spacecraft in human history, losing out only to Voyager 2 which launched a few weeks earlier in 1977.*

The spacecraft has traveled further than any human-made object, crossing the heliopause and heading into interstellar space. While doing this, it has continued to send back useful data to Earth, helping us learn about the space between stars outside of our own Solar System. All this, while working with just 69.63 kilobytes of memory, about the size of an average JPEG, and running partly on code written in archaic computer language Fortran 5.

With such a mission, you'd expect the occasional challenge, even before you take into account the high radiation environment it is heading through. And glitches most definitely have occurred, including mysterious telemetry data that was sent back last year, likely the result of the data passing through an old onboard computer which had not been functional for years.

That was fixed in August 2022, but now there is a new problem, and it's a frustrating one.

"The spacecraft is receiving and executing commands sent from Earth; however, the [flight data system] is not communicating properly with one of the probe’s subsystems, called the telecommunications unit (TMU)," NASA explained in a statement. "As a result, no science or engineering data is being sent back to Earth."

Instead of sending back the usual varied data packages in binary code, the TMU has begun "transmitting a repeating pattern of ones and zeros as if it were 'stuck'." NASA believes the source of the problem is the flight data system, and last weekend attempted to reset the computer to the state it was in before the error occurred. However, the spacecraft has continued to send unusable data. The team will continue to work on solutions, before the painstaking 45-hour wait to find out if it worked.

"Finding solutions to challenges the probes encounter often entails consulting original, decades-old documents written by engineers who didn’t anticipate the issues that are arising today," NASA added. "As a result, it takes time for the team to understand how a new command will affect the spacecraft’s operations in order to avoid unintended consequences."

*The answer to your inevitable question of "why was Voyager 2 launched first" is that Voyager 1 was on a faster route to its planetary targets, and so was given the honor of the 1.

 

[momma_soapmaker]

I'm surprised it still works at all. 69.63kb memory is teeny weeny.

 

[Profit of Doom]

They are doing much with that teeny weeny.

 

[packyderms_wife]

I'm surprised it still works at all. 69.63kb memory is teeny weeny.

yep, we could send a cell phone into space that has much more memory than this sat has.

 

[West]

They are doing much with that teeny weeny.

So it's not how big it is, but how you use it.

 

[Macgyver]

NASA's Voyager 1 finally starts making sense again

The decades-old NASA Voyager 1 spacecraft has begun sending readable communications again after months of transmitting gibberish.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Voyager 1 starts transmitting useable data again for first time in five months - after appearing to have broken down nearly 50 years into its outer space journey​

The decades-old NASA Voyager 1 spacecraft has begun sending readable communications again after months of transmitting gibberish.
Voyager 1 – the most distant human-made object in existence – has been sending back data from interstellar space for nearly 50 years after being launched in 1977.

However, in November a glitch occurred that made the spacecraft's data about its environment and the health of its own systems unintelligible to the NASA scientists monitoring it.
Famous for snapping photos of Jupiter, Saturn and their moons, Voyager 1 then returned readable communications on April 20, confirming it is still safely cruising outer space.
NASA's official Twitter account for the craft posted a light-hearted tweet in celebration: 'Hi, it's me. - V1'.

What is Voyager 1?​

No spacecraft has gone farther than NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft.
Launched in 1977 to fly by Jupiter and Saturn, Voyager 1 crossed into interstellar space in August 2012 and continues to collect data.
The probe is now in interstellar space, the region outside the heliopause, or the bubble of energetic particles and magnetic fields from the sun.
Source: NASA

The account also shared a tweet from the official account for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory showing an image of the elated scientists clapping with joy at Voyager 1's latest data set.
'Sounding a little more like yourself, #Voyager1' the account wrote.
'For the first time since November, Voyager 1 is returning useable data about the health and status of its onboard engineering systems,' it explained.

'Next step: Enable the spacecraft to begin returning science data again.'
The Voyager flight team traced the November glitch back to a single chip malfunction in the 'flight data subsystem' (FDS) – the part responsible for sending its data back to Earth.
The broken chip held some of the computer code necessary for transmitting workable data.
'The loss of that code rendered the science and engineering data unusable,' NASA said in a statement on Monday.
'Unable to repair the chip, the team decided to place the affected code elsewhere in the FDS memory.'



Voyager 1 lifted off atop a Titan IIIE launch system from Florida's Cape Canaveral on September 5, 1977
Voyager 1 is around 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, so fixing problems on the craft a is a huge challenge.
It's now so far away it takes twenty-two-and-a-half hours for a signal to cover the vast distance.
However, the team's code experiment worked and the data began to be readable once more.
'Finding solutions to challenges the probes encounter often entails consulting original, decades-old documents written by engineers who didn't anticipate the issues that are arising today,' NASA said in December after the discovery of the glitch.

'During the coming weeks, the team will relocate and adjust the other affected portions of the FDS software,' NASA said in its updated statement on Monday.
'These include the portions that will start returning science data.'
The Voyager was the first human-made object to leave our solar system and enter the space between stars.
It is famous for returning one of the most revered astronomical images of all time – Pale Blue Dot, showing our planet as a spec of dust in the vastness of space.
Its twin, Voyager 2, is 12.6 billion miles (20 billion kilometers) away and is also still functional.



NASA archival image: Engineers working on vibration acoustics and pyro shock testing of NASA's Voyager 1, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, November 18, 1976
Both Voyagers launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida in 1977 – with Voyager 2 departing a month earlier than 1.
They have far exceeded that, however, having been travelling for 46 years.
They were launched to explore all the giant planets of our outer solar system – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune; 48 of their moons; and the unique system of rings and magnetic fields those planets possess.
NASA had acknowledged that the mighty Voyager mission cannot continue forever.

Yet the team hopes to keep the instruments needed to transmit data about its environment going until at least 2025.
It hopes Voyager 1 will keep travelling through space with NASA able to track its whereabouts until around 2036, when its nuclear batteries are likely to die, after which it will drift on aimlessly.
Some of the systems are indeed becoming dated; for example, it's internal computers have 240,000 times less memory than an iPhone.
The radio antenna, protruding from the central circular dish like the antenna on a robotic insect, is equally archaic, emitting as many watts as a refrigerator lightbulb.
As for the onboard tape recorder, which is constantly on, it differs little from the one in a typical 1970s car.

An annotated image showing the various parts and instruments of NASA's Voyager space probe design. Voyager 1 and its identical sister craft, Voyager 2 were launched in 1977 to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space
Music created from NASA data of Voyager 1 spacecraft journey

As for Voyager 2, engineers expect all five of its science instruments to continue operation through 2026.
Last year, communications with Voyager 2 were lost when a wrong command was given, causing it to point its antenna just two degrees away from Earth.
However, the space agency said a 'heartbeat' signal had been picked up during a regular scan of the sky more than a week later.
Voyager 2 is still the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune.

THE BACKGROUND TO NASA'S HISTORIC VOYAGER MISSION​

The Voyager spacecraft were built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which continues to operate both.

NASA launched the Voyager 1 spacecraft on September 5 1977, and the Voyager 2 on August 20 1977.
Each spacecraft carries a golden record on board – a record that includes sounds, pictures and messages of Earth.
Continuing on their more than 37-year journey since their 1977 launches, they each are much farther away from Earth and the sun than Pluto.
In August 2012, Voyager 1 made the historic entry into interstellar space, the region between stars, filled with material ejected by the death of nearby stars millions of years ago.

Voyager 2 entered interstellar space on November 5, 2018.
Both spacecraft are still sending scientific information about their surroundings through the Deep Space Network, or DSN.

The primary mission was the exploration of Jupiter and Saturn.
The mission was extended after making a string of discoveries there — such as active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io and the intricacies of Saturn's rings.
Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune and is still the only spacecraft to have visited those outer planets.
The adventurers' current mission, the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM), will explore the outermost edge of the Sun's domain — and beyond.
Source: NASA

 

[Delta]

This may just have to remain unexplained.

 

[Kris Gandillon]

This may just have to remain unexplained.

What’s unexplained about it?

They told what they did to fix it.

The Voyager flight team traced the November glitch back to a single chip malfunction in the 'flight data subsystem' (FDS) – the part responsible for sending its data back to Earth.
The broken chip held some of the computer code necessary for transmitting workable data.
'The loss of that code rendered the science and engineering data unusable,' NASA said in a statement on Monday.
'Unable to repair the chip, the team decided to place the affected code elsewhere in the FDS memory.'

 

[Delta]

What’s unexplained about it?

They told what they did to fix it.

Sorry, been watching Shatner.

 

[Tristan]

I'm surprised it still works at all. 69.63kb memory is teeny weeny.

Yeah, but it doesn't run Windoze, so there's that going for it...