NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is still cruising along in the interstellar medium 23 billion kilometers from Earth. It’s not doing much; just coasting out in deep space. All of the instruments are still operating on the limited amount of power the probe can generate. This includes the high gain antenna, responsible for sending and receiving data from the spacecraft.

However, not everything is great. The spacecraft’s attitude control system is working, but for some reason engineers cannot yet explain, the telemetry the spacecraft is sending back makes it seem like it is out of control, pointing in impossible directions. The engineers know Voyager 1 is still pointing where it should be because the signal it is sending back has not changed in intensity.

One possible explanation for the bad telemetry is the spacecraft’s constant exposure to radiation from interstellar space. Radiation is not kind to electronics. Since the spacecraft is still working, engineers have time to fix it before it becomes an issue.

If they cannot, it might end up being one of the many issues engineers just have to deal with on the 45-year-old spacecraft. For example, the main thrusters stopped functioning well, so the team switched to the backup thrusters in 2017, operating them for the first time in 37 years.

Despite all these issues, Voyager 1 and 2 are expected to continue functioning through 2025.

More Information

NASA JPL press release