TPO - Engineers at NASA have successfully fired up a set of thrusters that Voyager 1 has not used in decades to solve a problem that could prevent the 47-year-old spacecraft from communicating with Earth from billions of miles away.
When Voyager 1 launched into space on September 5, 1977, no one expected the probe to still be operational today. Due to its exceptionally long mission, Voyager 1 encountered problems as its components aged in the cold outer reaches of the solar system. When a problem arose, engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, had to be creative while still being careful about how the spacecraft would react to any changes.
Currently the most distant spacecraft from Earth, Voyager 1 is about 24 billion kilometers away. The probe operates outside the heliosphere, where its instruments directly sample interstellar space.
Earlier this year, engineers discovered a problem when a fuel tube inside one of Voyager’s thrusters became clogged. If the thrusters are clogged, they can’t generate enough force to keep the spacecraft stable. Voyager’s thrusters keep the spacecraft oriented in a way that allows it to communicate with Earth.
If Voyager 1 wasn’t positioned so its antenna was facing Earth, the spacecraft wouldn’t be able to “hear” commands from mission control or send back data, according to Calla Cofield, a media relations specialist at JPL. The team realized they would have to send a command to the spacecraft to switch to a different set of thrusters, but the fix wouldn’t be simple.
This isn’t the first time Voyager 1 has needed to switch to a different set of thrusters in recent decades. Thankfully, the spacecraft has three sets of thrusters: two attitude thrusters and one dedicated to orbital correction maneuvers. Voyager 1 used its thrusters for a variety of purposes as it flew by planets like Jupiter and Saturn in 1979 and 1980.
The spacecraft is currently on a steady orbit away from the solar system, so it only needs one set of thrusters to help keep its antenna pointed toward Earth. To fuel the thrusters, liquid hydrazine is converted to gas and released in about 40 short bursts each day to keep Voyager 1 oriented correctly.
When the team initially switched Voyager to orbit-correction thrusters six years ago, the tube was 0.25 millimeters wide. But now, the blockage has shrunk it to 0.035 millimeters, about half the width of a human hair, according to NASA.
It was time to switch to another set of thrusters.
According to CNN
Source: https://tienphong.vn/tau-vu-tru-voyager-1-vua-khoi-dong-co-day-chua-su-dung-trong-nhieu-thap-ky-post1674361.tpo
Comment (0)