2023-10-24 18:15:09
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, the human-made objects that have reached the furthest from Earth, starred in several of the most important chapters in the exploration of the cosmos and their adventure continues. Both ships are even prepared for the possibility of contact with aliens. However, after 46 years of space travel, and having entered interstellar space, they face difficult challenges derived from their old age and their distance from Earth.
The personnel responsible for these two NASA space probes are implementing several strategies to ensure that both ships continue to be able to communicate with Earth in the coming years.
One of the challenges is to solve the problem of fuel residue accumulation inside the narrower conduction tubes in some of the ship’s thrusters. This type of fuel debris buildup has been observed on other spacecraft.
On both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, those thrusters are primarily used to spin the spacecraft around to its optimal orientation in which the antenna points precisely at Earth. If the antenna is not pointed correctly at the Earth, it will not be able to send or receive messages from it.
To correct any deviation in the antenna’s orientation, the thrusters activate automatically and reorient the spacecraft until the antenna is once again pointed properly at Earth.
The propellant flows to the impellers through a set of passages. The smallest ones, inside the impeller tubes, are 25 times narrower than the external passages. Each booster shot adds small amounts of propellant residue, causing a gradual buildup of unwanted material over decades. In some of the narrower conduits, the buildup is becoming significant. To slow that buildup, the mission’s technical staff has adopted the habit of letting the two spacecraft spin a little further in each direction before firing the thrusters. This will reduce the frequency of thruster firing.
This new pattern was ordered to the two Voyagers by instructions sent in September and October. Under the new guideline, ships are allowed to move almost one degree further in each direction. Furthermore, efforts are made to carry out fewer ignitions, compensating for those that are missed by lengthening those that are.
Artist’s recreation of Voyager 1 flying through interstellar space, which it arrived in 2012. (Illustration: NASA JPL / Caltech)
Mission technicians have also prepared and sent software to the ships’ onboard computers to prevent a problem that affected Voyager 1 from happening again last year.
That problem was that the onboard computer that guides Voyager 1 toward Earth began sending confusing status reports, even though it was otherwise functioning normally. It took mission engineers months to detect the problem. The AACS (Attitude Articulation and Control System) was improperly writing commands to the computer’s memory.
With the new computer patch, the problem should not occur on Voyager 2 or affect Voyager 1 again.
Voyager 1 visited the planets Jupiter and Saturn, and was the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space. Voyager 2 also visited Jupiter and Saturn, and was also the first spacecraft, and so far the only one, to visit the planets Uranus and Neptune.
Voyager 1 and 2 are now almost 1 light-day from Earth. There will come a day when the power on board will run out and then they will no longer be able to communicate with Earth. Their electronic systems will stop working and both ships will become inert. Even so, their adventure will continue and could even enter a stage much more fascinating than any of the others they have experienced: contact with extraterrestrial beings.
Both ships will continue to travel through the galaxy and will pass relatively close to some stars. If an extraterrestrial civilization detects one of the Voyagers and picks it up, each ship is prepared to serve as an ambassador for humanity. Both ships carry a cache of messages and information about human civilization on board for any intelligent aliens who find them. To overcome the language barrier, the designers of this kind of cosmic message in a bottle turned to mathematics, which is the same in every corner of the universe. The symbols represented on the outside should be understandable by any being intelligent enough, helping them access the rest of the information. (Source: NCYT from Amazings)
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