NASA ’s Voyager 1 space vehicle has resumed send back science data , six months after it begin sendinggarbled patterns of zeroes and unity .
Voyager 1 has journey further than any human - made objective , crossing the heliopause and heading intointerstellar distance . While doing this , it has carry on to send back useful data point to Earth , helping us learn about the space between star outside of our own Solar System . All this while working with just69.63 kilobytesof memory , and scarper partly on code written in the antiquated figurer language Fortran 5 .
" The release you press to launch the threshold of your car , that has more compute power than the Voyager spacecrafts do , " Voyager project director Suzanne Dodd explained toNPR . " It ’s singular that they keep flying , and that they ’ve fly for 46 - plus twelvemonth . "
With such a mission , you ’d expect the periodic challenge , even before you take into account statement the high - radiation syndrome surround it is heading through . And the Voyager 1 mission has certainly faced its parcel ofchallenges .
" Normal operations were interrupted last year when Voyager 1 lead off sending a sign back to Earth that contained no skill or engineering data,“NASA explainedin a argument . " The team finally learn the yield stem from a small dowery of subvert memory in the flying data subsystem , one of the ballistic capsule ’s three computers . "
On May 17 , NASA mail commands to the aging investigation . It takes 22.5 hours for a signal to give the space vehicle , before another 22.5 hours for a tax return signal , meaning there was a tense hold to see if the fix had worked .
Fortunately , the reparation seem to have work , with several systemsnow functionalonce more .
" The plasma wave subsystem and gaussmeter instrument are now return usable scientific discipline data , " NASA added . " As part of the effort to rejuvenate Voyager 1 to normal operations , the delegacy is extend work on the cosmic ray subsystem and crushed energy charged particle instrument . "
fingerbreadth sweep that other instruments can be ready , and Voyager can cover to send back utilitarian datum , before the atomic number 94 - powered system that power the crafteventually run out of juice .
