Voyager 1 Restores Contact 16 Billion Miles Away After Power-Saving Glitch
Updated
Updated · starlust.org · Oct 30
Voyager 1 Restores Contact 16 Billion Miles Away After Power-Saving Glitch
3 articles · Updated · starlust.org · Oct 30
Summary
NASA said Voyager 1 resumed communications on Oct. 20 after disappearing during two scheduled contact attempts on Oct. 18-19.
A months-long power-saving overhaul nicknamed the “Big Bang” preceded the outage; after the change, one thruster group went offline, backups activated and the probe entered fault protection, pausing science operations.
Engineers are still investigating the cause and expect more glitches through summer 2027 as the 49-year-old spacecraft operates on a steadily shrinking power supply.
More than 16 billion miles from Earth, Voyager 1 is nearing one light-day distance on Nov. 18, when a one-way signal will take about 24 hours.