Good news has finally surfaced after a lengthy journey of almost eight months: Voyager 1, which has not been heard from since November 2023, is once again active and working. Its four science instruments are all still functional, and it is transmitting useful data to Earth.

Highlights:

• After eight months, Voyager 1 is back online, sending data from over 15 billion miles away.
• A malfunction in the flight data subsystem was fixed, restoring communication.
• Two of its four science instruments are now transmitting data, continuing the mission.

The Voyager spacecraft began sending confused data back to Earth in November of last year, with its typical binary code of 0s and 1s broken. Given its age of forty-six years, Voyager 1 may have experienced a malfunction. The spacecraft is currently traveling through a region of interstellar space that has never been explored and is at least 15 billion miles, or 24.14 billion km, from Earth!

The Voyager 1 crew persisted in trying to identify the problems with the spacecraft in spite of obstacles. Their perseverance paid off, as controllers have finally identified the flight data subsystem (FDS) as the issue. The data packaging subsystem is in charge of preparing data for transmission to Earth.

A closer look revealed the precise source of the problem—a chip—that was the root of the problem. On April 20, 2024, Voyager 1 successfully relayed comprehensible data after locating the new location in the FDS. Nevertheless, out of its four science instruments, only two provided the data.

As of right now, Voyager 1's two surviving science instruments are in good working order and are communicating with mission control on Earth.

This spacecraft was launched by NASA on September 5, 1977. It was tasked with exploring and reading the interstellar space and the outer solar device as a part of the Voyager programme. The NASA Deep Space Network, which Voyager 1 makes use of for conversation and information transmission returned to Earth, is how it receives its ordinary each day directives.

One of the spacecraft's most fascinating and unique functions is that it is the only recognised human-made item at a distance of 162.7 AU (24.3 billion km; 15.1 billion mi). The probe also controlled to capture a sight of Jupiter, Saturn, and Titan, Saturn's biggest moon, at some stage in flybys earlier than heading into interstellar space. Titan's flyby was prioritized over Pluto's due to its substantial atmosphere.