NASA's Voyager 1 interstellar probe is finally returning usable data from all four of its science instruments, scientists say.
The spacecraft went haywire in November 2023 and began sending nonsensical signals following a technical issue with one of its three onboard computers. Engineers partially resolved the glitch in April after sending a command to Voyager 1's flight data subsystem , which is responsible for neatly packaging science data before the spacecraft transmits them to Earth. The command prompted Voyager 1 to send back its first readable message in four months, enabling engineers to locate the problem.
While Voyager 1's data systems are back up and running, further work is needed to fully restore the spacecraft, according to the statement. Engineers still need to resynchronize timekeeping software that enables all three onboard computers to execute commands at the same time, for example. The team will also perform maintenance on the probe's digital tape recorder, which stores data for the plasma wave instrument.
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