Voyager 1, the two spacecraft that have gone further than any other human-made object into the universe, is back in operation after a recent near-death experience. Despite disabling five of its instruments years ago due to power reserves, all four remaining scientific instruments are now functioning properly once again.
The spacecraft’s primary mission ended over 43 years ago and since then, it had to disable several instruments including the cameras. However, thanks to recent science data, it has been confirmed that the magnetometer (MAG), charged particle (LECP), cosmic ray (CRS) instruments and plasma wave subsystem (PWS) are all operational.
Now that Voyager 1 is mostly restored to normal operation, some maintenance tasks need to be done. These include resynchronizing the onboard time and performing upkeep on the digital tape recorder. With these actions completed, the spacecraft will be ready for its 47th anniversary this fall.
Mark Stevens provided this update and special thanks to him for sharing this information with us.
