Recently, Voyager 1 encountered communication issues that began on October 16, 2024, after a command to activate a heater inadvertently triggered the spacecraft's fault protection system.

The fault protection system had reduced the transmitter's data transmission rate, altering the expected X-band signal necessary for communication with Earth.

Despite these setbacks, the team managed to reestablish communication using a weaker S-band transmitter that had been inactive since 1981.

On October 22, NASA successfully sent a ping to Voyager 1 using the S-band, receiving a reply two days later, confirming that the spacecraft remains operational.

As Voyager 1 continues to age, the team is aware that each malfunction could potentially be the last operational issue, raising concerns about the longevity of the mission.

Launched in 1977, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has been sending invaluable data from interstellar space since its entry in 2012, but it is now facing significant communication challenges.

This fault protection system, designed to conserve power, led to the complete shutdown of the primary X-band transmitter on October 19, raising concerns about the probe's operational status.

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are investigating the cause of this fault protection activation, which may take several days to weeks to fully diagnose.

Fortunately, the Voyager team has extensive experience dealing with similar challenges, allowing them to proceed with caution and patience as they work to restore normal operations.

The Deep Space Network faced significant challenges due to the vast distance of 24.8 billion kilometers, yet it successfully received signals from Voyager 1.

NASA estimates that Voyager 1 has only a few more years of operational power left, prompting the team to shut down various non-essential instruments to conserve energy.

As both Voyager probes age and travel farther from Earth, they are experiencing more frequent technical issues, which engineers continue to troubleshoot from billions of miles away.