Did Voyager 1 get lost in space?

What does Voyager 1 see? The probe, more than 23.335 billion kilometers from Earth, continues to send its impressions of interstellar space to NASA (information that takes 21 hours to reach us). But the telemetry data from the device appear inconsistent, according to the US space agency.

With valiant probe nothing is impossible

” The spacecraft is nearly 45 years old recalls Suzanne Dodd, Voyager 1 project manager, which is far beyond what the mission had imagined “. Above all, she explains that the high-radiation environment in which the probe is immersed is unlike anything a spacecraft has experienced before. And that poses great challenges for NASA engineers.

These data do not correspond with the conditions and position of Voyager 1. NASA teams are scratching their heads and looking for an explanation. ” I think there is a way to solve this problem adds Suzanne Dodd. Is this a problem with the on-board systems of the probe responsible for telemetry, or with other components? It will have to be determined.

However, it is possible that the source of this meaningless data will never be identified, in which case the specialists of the American agency will have to live with it. The good news is that the problem does not concern the scientific instruments of the probe, which remain perfectly operational despite their great age. Voyager 1 should continue to operate after 2025.

Recently, the craft sent information that detected oscillations in the plasma of interstellar space. Data that NASA did not expect to collect and which proves the vitality of the probe, part of the exploration of the final frontier.