The issue began to unravel when Voyager 1 operators sent a “poke” to the spacecraft on March 3, 2024, which prompted a full memory readout. The readout revealed that about 3% of the FDS memory had been corrupted, hindering the computer from performing its normal operations. The glitch is suspected to be due to a single chip responsible for storing part of the affected memory ceasing to function, possibly struck by a high-speed energetic particle or simply worn out after 46 years of service.
Engineers are optimistic they can find a workaround to enable the FDS to operate normally without the unusable memory hardware. This would allow Voyager 1 to resume sending science and engineering data back to Earth. The spacecraft currently sits around 15 billion miles from Earth, with a signal round-trip time of approximately 45 hours.
Key points on why Voyager 1 stopped communicating:
- Issue: In late 2023, Voyager 1, the first spacecraft in interstellar space, started transmitting gibberish instead of data.
- Cause: A small portion of memory in one of the spacecraft's flight data subsystem (FDS) got corrupted. This messed up Voyager 1's ability to perform normal operations and send understandable data.
- Impact: The corrupted data prevented scientists from receiving accurate information about Voyager 1's condition and surrounding environment.
- Resolution: Thankfully, the cause has been identified. NASA engineers are working on a fix to hopefully restore normal communication.