NASA's Voyager 1 probe faces mystery glitch in interstellar space; investigation launched

It was on September 5, 1977, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) launched the Voyager 1 probe into space. Fast forward to 2022, the spacecraft had been still going strong, having now reached 23.3 billion kilometers from Earth. In 2012, Voyager 1 became the first man-made object to cross the heliosphere, the boundary of the sun's influence, and enter interstellar space. However, owing to such a staggeringly long journey, it seems the spacecraft has started to feel the toll, raising concerns for NASA. 

NASA reports mystery glitch in the 45-year-old spacecraft

According to the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), scientists have detected issues in Voyager 1's attitude articulation and control system (AACS). This system allows the spacecraft to maintain its orientation and keeps its high-gain antenna pointed precisely at Earth, enabling data transfer. However, the agency found that the readouts by AACS are not reflecting what's happening onboard even though the spacecraft is operating normally and is receiving and executing commands from Earth.

NASA further said that the system's telemetry data being sent is invalid as it appears to be randomly generated, or does not reflect any possible state the AACS could be in. Despite these anomalies, Voyager continues to send signals at the same strength as its high-gain antenna remains in its prescribed orientation. Notably, the technical glitch has not triggered any onboard fault protection systems which would put the spacecraft into 'safe mode'. 

Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager 1 and 2 at JPL said in a statement, "A mystery like this is sort of par for the course at this stage of the Voyager mission". She said that since the probe is now in interstellar space – a high-radiation environment – the engineering team faces many challenges. "But I think if there’s a way to solve this issue with the AACS, our team will find it", Dodd said. She, however, underscored that the team may not be able to find the anomaly's source and would instead have to adapt to it. 

Voyager 1 was launched with its twin Voyager 2 in the same year and the latter, too, has crossed the heliosphere. Voyager 2 is currently 19.5 billion kilometers and both the probes are likely to stay operational till 2025.