Voyager 1 Reconnects with NASA Using 1981 Radio Tech

NASA’s Voyager 1, a 47-year-old spacecraft, reestablished contact with Earth on October 24 using a radio transmitter from 1981 after a technical issue caused a temporary communication blackout. Launched in September 1977, Voyager 1 has traveled 15 billion miles from Earth, sending data back despite limited power, thanks to strategic shutdowns of non-essential components.

As the farthest human-made object exploring interstellar space, Voyager 1 has recently faced numerous technical challenges due to its age. On October 16, the team activated a heater to counteract radiation damage, inadvertently triggering the spacecraft’s autonomous fault protection system, which powered down some systems to save energy. The issue was detected on October 18 when the Deep Space Network failed to receive a response from Voyager 1.

Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, communications with Voyager 1 require about 23 hours for a one-way signal. While the spacecraft primarily uses an X-band radio transmitter, its weaker S-band frequency—unused since 1981—was reactivated by engineers, allowing basic commands to be sent and confirming its alignment with Earth, although the signal strength is insufficient for receiving telemetry or scientific data.

The team plans to hold off reactivating the X-band transmitter until they understand what triggered the fault protection, a process that may take several weeks.