NASA Restarts Voyager 1's Failed Thrusters After 20 Years

Launched into space in 1977, Voyager 1 continues its mission at a distance of 25 billion kilometers.

The spacecraft requires different propulsion systems to send data to Earth and maintain its orientation. However, over time, residues in some of the thrusters have created a risk of failure for the backup engines.

NASA engineers made the risky decision to reactivate the main thrusters that were disabled in 2004.

As a result of detailed examinations of the system, it was determined that there may be a problem in the circuit feeding the heaters.

Therefore, the thrusters were activated first, then the heaters were activated. After a communication period of 23 hours, the data received confirmed that the system was working successfully.

Experts noted that if this intervention had failed, Voyager 1 could have lost directional control and would not have been able to continue its mission.

"These thrusters had been out of action for years, but thanks to one clever engineer's idea, perhaps another miracle has happened for Voyager," said mission manager Todd Barber of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Canberra station in Australia, the only powerful antenna in the world that provides communications, was put into maintenance as of May and will remain closed until 2026.

Therefore, the successful completion of the test is critical to extending the mission period.