Voyager 1 is now using a radio transmitter it hasn’t relied on since 1981 to stay in contact with its team on Earth while engineers work to understand what went wrong.
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is depicted in this artist's concept traveling through interstellar space, or the space between stars, which it entered in 2012.
Voyager 1 has been using one of its two radio transmitters, called an X-band based on the frequency it utilizes, for decades.
In the meantime, engineers sent a message to Voyager 1 on October 22 to check that the S-band transmitter was working and received confirmation on October 24.
“The S-band signal is too weak to use long term,” Waggoner said.
Persons:
Bruce Waggoner, hasn’t, Waggoner, it’s, ” Waggoner
Organizations:
CNN, NASA, JPL, Caltech, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Space, Network, Engineers, Space Network
Locations:
Pasadena , California