Once ‘dead’ thrusters on the farthest spacecraft from Earth are in action again | CNN
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NASA engineers have revived old thrusters on Voyager 1 to prevent a clog from endangering the mission during a planned communications blackout.

Engineers at NASA say they have successfully revived thrusters aboard Voyager 1, the farthest spacecraft from our planet, in the nick of time before a planned communications blackout.

A side effect of upgrades to an Earth-based antenna that sends commands to Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, the communications pause could have occurred when the probe faced a critical issue — thruster failure — leaving the space agency without a way to save the historic mission. The new fix to the vehicle’s original roll thrusters, out of action since 2004, could help keep the veteran spacecraft operating until it’s able to contact home again next year.

Voyager 1, launched in September 1977, uses more than one set of thrusters to function properly. Primary thrusters carefully orient the spacecraft so it can keep its antenna pointed at Earth. This ensures that the probe can send back data it collects from its unique perspective 15.5 billion miles (25 billion kilometers) away in interstellar space, as well as receive commands sent by the Voyager team.

  • whaleross@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    For anybody else curious;

    Voyager 1 uses hydrazine (N₂H₄) as fuel for its small attitude control thrusters. Hydrazine is a hypergolic monopropellant, meaning it doesn’t require an external oxidizer—it decomposes exothermically upon contact with a catalyst, producing gas to generate thrust.

    The thrusters are not used for propulsion, but rather to rotate and stabilize the spacecraft so that its antenna remains pointed toward Earth and its instruments can be properly oriented. Fuel consumption is extremely low—only a few grams per year—and Voyager 1 still has some hydrazine left, although it’s running low. Once the hydrazine is depleted, the spacecraft will no longer be able to control its orientation, which means communication with Earth will cease.

    The Voyager spacecraft have no engines for linear acceleration; instead, they follow the trajectory and speed gained from gravity assists during planetary flybys in the solar system.

    • meathorse@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      That’s cool, but forget the thrusters, how is the battery pack on that thing still keeping it powered!?

        • Hupf@feddit.orgEnglish
          1·
          1 month ago

          Good news: I may have a solution to my heating problem. Bad news: it involves me digging up the radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Now, if I remember my training correctly, one of the lessons was titled: “Don’t dig up the big box of plutonium, Mark.” I get it; RTGs are good for spacecraft, but if they rupture around humans… no more humans, which is why we buried it when we arrived. And planted that flag so we would never be stupid enough to accidentally go near it again. But, as long as I don’t break it… [trails off, then starts laughing] I almost just said “Everything will be fine,” out loud. Look, the point is, I’m not cold anymore.

    • Match!!@pawb.socialEnglish
      01·
      1 month ago

      It’s in interstellar space now, right? Why does it need thrusters to reorient its antenna towards Earth instead of some combination of angular momentum matched to its velocity? Does it have to track Earth’s exact position based off the day of the year or something?

      • lurker2718@lemmings.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        It needs thrusters, because there are still some small forces acting on the probe. For example, asymmetrical emission thermal radiation may rotate the probe slowly. This accelerated the Pioneer probes somewhat, see Pioneer anomaly. So without correction you can’t keep the orientation for years. Every tiny force would accumulate over this timescale.