Although it was thought to be lost 24 billion miles from Earth, this probe sent in 1977 has, against all odds, resurfaced on NASA’s radar.

In the farthest reaches of the Universe, a signal we thought we’d never receive again has appeared.

Voyager 1: the return!

After a five-month period of communication difficulties, NASA engineers have finally managed to receive decipherable data from Voyager 1. This breakthrough comes after Voyager 1’s flight system began sending an indecipherable and repetitive code pattern in November 2023, rendering its data unusable. The 46-year-old space probe is currently around 24 billion kilometres from Earth and is showing signs of ageing. However, despite its years of service, Voyager 1 continues to push back the boundaries of space exploration.

“Today is a great day for Voyager 1. We have re-established communication with the space probe. And we can’t wait to receive the scientific data. Linda Spilker, project scientist”

The source of the communication problem was identified as a chip malfunction, which led to the corruption of 3% of the flight system’s memory. This faulty chip caused the loss of crucial code, rendering Voyager 1’s scientific and engineering data unusable.

A stroke of genius to reconnect

However, thanks to the ingenuity of NASA engineers, a solution was found. Commands were sent to Voyager 1 to reboot its computer system, and a plan was devised to store the affected code elsewhere in the system’s memory, dividing it into sections and adjusting these to ensure its functionality. On 20 April, after sending commands to relocate the affected code, the team received a response from Voyager 1 confirming the successful modification, enabling the readable transmission of engineering data.

“For this plan to work, they also had to adjust these sections of code to ensure, for example, that they still worked as a whole. Any references to the location of this code in other parts of the memory (of the flight data system) also had to be updated.”

Engineers now plan to continue the process of relocating the affected parts of the system software to restore the transmission of precious scientific data. Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, launched in 1977, are the oldest operating space probes in history, currently in interstellar space. And despite the problems encountered in the past, engineers have always managed to re-establish the connection with these probes, which are already from another era.