[NP] "I'm not saying it's aliens..." NASA’s venerable Voyager 1 spacecraft, which has been traversing the distant reaches of our solar system for almost half a century, appears to be encountering severe difficulties and is sending NASA a bizarre, incomprehensible code.
The probe, launched in the summer of 1977, has weathered many challenges — including waning power reserves and software malfunctions. Currently situated some 15 billion miles from Earth and past the broadly defined edge of the solar system, Voyager 1 is now sending puzzling and incoherent messages back to our planet. "It basically stopped talking to us in a coherent manner. It’s a serious problem," stated Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd.
The Voyager 1 spacecraft, which operates on technology dating back to the mid-1970s, has been transmitting a simple chain of alternating 1s and 0s instead of the usual binary code. Troubleshooting attempts to reboot the probe’s systems have so far been unsuccessful. "The button you press to open the door of your car, that has more compute power than the Voyager spacecrafts do. It’s remarkable that they keep flying, and that they’ve flown for 46-plus years," Dodd told NPR.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab scientists are now engaged in retracing the technical steps taken by Voyager 1’s original developers in the hope of rectifying the issue. This plunge into the probe’s design past coincides with the absence of critical science data since Voyager’s communications first came into question. Measures are also being taken to conserve the spacecraft’s dwindling plutonium-based power supply.
The Voyager spacecraft were not expected to last much more than 50 years. Astronomer Stamatios Krimigis, who worked on the original project, told NPR: "My motto for a long time was 50 years or bust..." before adding, "...but we’re sort of approaching that."