The most distant man-made object from Earth is on life support after a computer glitch late last year, potentially ending the mission. In mid-November last year, the nearly 50-year-old space probe lost the ability to send important telemetry data back to engineers on Earth. Without this valuable information, flight control experts have no idea how the spacecraft's power, control or propulsion systems are operating.
Currently, Voyager 1 continues to fly towards the unknown world at a speed of 38,000 miles per hour. It is one of only two spacecraft operating in interstellar space - the other being its twin Voyager 2, which left Earth 16 days before Voyager 1 back in 1977.
NASA said Voyager 1's problems were related to its Flight Data Subsystem (FDS), which collects information from various scientific instruments and sensors on the spacecraft and packages it into a data package for transmission to Earth. As early as November, packets began to show a recurring pattern of 0s and 1s.
Engineers believe this is a frame synchronization issue caused by corrupted FDS memory, but without proper telemetry data, it's difficult to pinpoint the location of the corrupted memory.
Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said they haven't given up yet. There are other methods that could be tried, she said, adding that it would be a miracle if they could get the detector back and that it was the most serious problem Dodd has faced since becoming project manager.
One technique NASA plans to try is to switch the FDS into a different mode, like the one used for the flybys of Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn the following year. The idea is that different modes might help isolate faulty memories. That's risky considering Voyager 1 hasn't used these modes in over 40 years, but at this point, it's a question of risk versus reward. When you've exhausted all other options, anything is worth a try.