NASA’s Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, has resumed sending science data after experiencing a computer problem in November. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that Voyager 1’s four instruments are now back in operation, with the team receiving meaningful information from the spacecraft in April. Recently, they commanded Voyager 1 to begin studying its environment once again.
Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 and is currently drifting through interstellar space, which is the space between star systems. Prior to reaching this area, the spacecraft made significant discoveries, such as finding a thin ring around Jupiter and observing several of Saturn’s moons. Voyager 1’s instruments are specifically designed to collect data on plasma waves, magnetic fields, and particles in its surroundings.
Currently, Voyager 1 is located over 15 billion miles (24.14 billion kilometers) away from Earth. Its twin spacecraft, Voyager 2, is also in interstellar space and is positioned over 12 billion miles (19.31 billion kilometers) from Earth. This story was initially published on June 14, 2024 and was updated on June 17th to correct the metric distances of Voyager 1 and Voyager
