Not long ago, NASA scientists noted unusual transmissions at Voyager 1. These were not normal streams of scientific information; they were used to reading. They, instead, came as very weak fragmentations of “unreadable whisperings”, according to one researcher. Weeks in, others still, the mystery intensified. Was it as if the spacecraft were malfunctioning, or was it somehow able to convey something new to us?
The silent traveler finds its voice once more
With a noble goal in mind, Voyager 1 was launched into space with the aid of launch rockets. The first operation was to observe the immediate cosmic environment around Jupiter and Saturn. At first, the objective was followed religiously, but suddenly, Voyager 1 kept moving and moving further away from its goal, and in the process, it lost the vast reserves of data that it had been able to obtain even after performing extraterrestrial expeditions in 2012.
Its current distance can never be understated. It’s currently sitting at over 15 billion miles away which has marked a new record in the world of astronomy. Gaining a colossal number in terms of cosmic distance is not all glamour and revolutionary, the main aim is to study the aftermath of gaining such astronomical distances that bend the laws of interplanetary physics, like here on Earth.
The “aftermath” in question is the weakening signals and build-up instruments phasing out, one after the other. By now, the engineers and astronomers on the project are not really expecting much, but despite this, the “unreadable” whispers still found their way to the instrument that was slowly dying out.
NASA takes a big leap in unlocking the mysteries of the unknown
NASA assembled a team of engineers and scientists to attempt to determine the cause of the signals. This was followed by checking and filtering every fragment that may affect the sound quality.
Weeks of pure hard work later, the signals became understandable. Voyager wasn’t failing at all. It was, in fact, talking, though by an odd tongue twisted by time and distance and broken mechanisms.
What did the signals reveal about the universe’s past, present, and future?
The data was then decoded to see through the complexity, it was the measure of interstellar plasma waves, which is simply the density and behavior of drifting particles in the immense enigma among stars. The lesson learnt was that Voyager was doing science, despite its poor state.
Sending a message about our cosmic environment outside our solar system, like this strange movement, is unlike anything ever seen before. Finally, the space vehicle was relaying direct information back to the Earth regarding the outer space universe beyond our solar system.
The big picture: why it totally matters to humanity’s future in space exploration
Even to think that the machine used at the end of the fifties and the late seventies still maintains useful data to send us is hard to believe. It is insane to think that NASA engineers managed to construct a very concrete object and keep it alive for this long; it is just amazing. It also points out to us all that we need to continue listening, as well as when the signal is weak or nearly disappears.
One of the difficulties humanity would have faced would have been the issue of instruments capable of taking precise measurements and certain “whispers” within the confines of the cosmos and while Voyager 1’s parts are slowly phasing out, this difficulty is non-existent.
The entire story of Voyager 1 continues to bridge the gap between our world and the unknown. It is a reminder that a spacecraft launched sometime in the disco years can still get our heads blown even when we are 15 billion miles away. Just like this strange extraterrestrial discovery, the universe is vast, enigmatic, and generally silent, yet at times when one listens to it keenly, it speaks back.