NASA engineers click on Voyager 1 and receive a memory dump

For months, there has been a growing fear that we might have to say goodbye to the Voyager 1 spacecraft after it began sending back garbled data. Now, in a surprise development, Voyager 1 has sent a flight data subsystem (FDS) memory reading after a “poke” command, which gives some hope that the spacecraft is in better shape than feared, while also allowing engineers to dig into the memory readings that were reported. Return it for evidence. Although this data is not sent in the format that the FDS is supposed to use when it is working properly, it can nonetheless be read.

The problem was previously suspected to be with the Telemetry Modulation Unit (TMU), but has since been linked to the FDS system itself. This comes after NASA engineers updated the firmware on both spacecraft to extend their lives, but it is too early to consider this a possible cause. Now, as a result of the “poke” instructions — which instruct the computer to try different sequences in its firmware if part of it becomes corrupted — engineers can compare them to previous downloads in hopes of finding the cause behind the FDS problems and a possible solution.

Inspired by this news of the decrypted memory download, Nadia Drake – Frank Drake's daughter – He wrote about how it affected him Not only the engineers who worked on the Voyager mission over the past decades, but also her own thoughts on the two Voyager spacecraft. Not only are they a constant reminder of her father and many of his colleagues, but the silence that will follow if we can no longer communicate with these spacecraft will be profound. However, this new hope is better than the previous news about this intrepid little spaceship.

thanks for the [Mark Stevens] To obtain confidential information.