NASA transmits patches to the two Voyager probes launched in 1977

2023-10-24 08:00:07

“It’s not every day that you update the firmware on a device made in the 1970s,” escribe Hackaday“, and rarely such a device is found beyond the limits of our solar system

“However, this is exactly what the JPL team in charge of the Voyager 1 and 2 missions are facing, as they are in the process of shipping new firmware patches to these amazing feats of engineering.”

From NASA announcement:

One effort addresses fuel debris that appears to build up inside the narrow tubes of some of the spacecraft’s thrusters. Thrusters are used to keep each spacecraft’s antenna pointed at Earth. This type of buildup has been observed on a handful of other spacecraft… In some of the propellant inlet tubes, buildup is becoming significant. To slow that buildup, the mission has begun letting the two spacecraft spin a little more in each direction. [casi 1 grado] before firing the thrusters. This will reduce the frequency of thruster firing… While greater rotation of the spacecraft could mean that bits of scientific data are occasionally lost, similar to being on a phone call where the person on the other end of the line is interrupts occasionally, the team concluded the plan. will allow Voyagers to return more data over time.

Engineers can’t know for sure when the booster’s propellant inlet tubes will become completely clogged, but they expect that, with these precautions, that won’t happen for at least five more years, possibly much longer. “At this point in the mission, the engineering team is facing a lot of challenges that we simply don’t have a manual for,” said Linda Spilker, project scientist for the mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. California. “But they keep finding creative solutions.”

But that’s not the only problem:

The team is also uploading a software patch to prevent a repeat of a glitch that arose on Voyager 1 last year. Engineers resolved the issue and the patch is intended to prevent the issue from reoccurring on Voyager 1 or from arising on its twin, Voyager 2…

In 2022, the onboard computer that orients the Voyager 1 spacecraft to Earth began sending confusing status reports, despite continuing to function normally… The attitude articulation and control system (AACS) was diverting commands, writing them to the computer’s memory instead of executing them. One of those lost commands ended up distorting the AACS status report before it could reach engineers on the ground.

The team determined that the AACS had entered an incorrect mode; However, they were unable to determine the cause and are therefore unsure if the issue could arise again. The software patch should prevent this.

“This patch is like an insurance policy that will protect us in the future and help us keep these probes running as long as possible,” said Suzanne Dodd, JPL’s Voyager project manager. “These are the only spacecraft that have ever operated in interstellar space, so the data they send back is exceptionally valuable to our understanding of our local universe.”

Since their launch in 1977, NASA’s two Voyager probes have traveled more than 12 billion miles (each!) and are still sending back data from beyond our solar system.