NASA engineers complete nail-biting maneuver to resurrect Voyager 1's long-dead thrusters

[Elderberry]

Live Science By Ben Turner

'Yet another miracle save': NASA engineers complete nail-biting maneuver to resurrect Voyager 1's long-dead thrusters

More than 15 billion miles from home, Voyager 1's ailing thrusters were threatening to abort the craft's mission. Until NASA engineers brought them miraculously back to life.

NASA engineers have resurrected Voyager 1's half-century-old thrusters more than 20 years after they fell silent, reviving a crucial backup just months before a planned communications blackout that could have doomed the craft.

The miracle fix has bought precious time for the veteran spacecraft, enabling it to stay in operation until contact with Earth is reestablished next year.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is currently more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth. As such, it takes 23 hours for any radio signal to travel from the craft to our planet.

But the Earth-based antenna that sends these commands to Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, is due an upgrade. And the craft's backup thrusters, which keep it locked on a course to a reference star that keeps it oriented toward and in contact with Earth, have been slowly clogging up with propellant residue.

More: https://www.livescience.com/space/yet-another-miracle-save-nasa-engineers-complete-nail-biting-maneuver-to-resurrect-voyager-1s-long-dead-thrusters

[Wingnut]

Maybe these guys could stop by the FAA/ATC towers and help out.  Those towers are using 1970 tech too.

Just Saying.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Maybe these guys could stop by the FAA/ATC towers and help out.  Those towers are using 1970 tech too.

Just Saying.

great point.

If we can throw in the ball buster, perhaps we can keep it chugging until Vger finds it.

I understand it has a real honey onboard.

[Hoodat]

If we can throw in the ball buster, perhaps we can keep it chugging until Vger finds it.

I understand it has a real honey onboard.

[GtHawk]

More than 15 billion miles from home, Voyager 1's ailing thrusters were threatening to abort the craft's mission. Until NASA engineers brought them miraculously back to life.

Considering that Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 with a designed five year lifespan, it seems to me we are well past it’s best used by date or aborting the crafts original mission. The big question I have is WTF happened to NASA? There was a time they excelled, now they can only watch others like SpaceX excel while they shovel taxpayer monies to another has been, Boeing.

[Hoodat]

The big question I have is WTF happened to NASA? There was a time they excelled, now they can only watch others like SpaceX excel while they shovel taxpayer monies to another has been, Boeing.

I recall back in the late 90s a certain VP who was handed control of NASA so that he could showcase his ideas to "reinvent government" in the next Presidential term.  Here was his first accomplishment:


Beginning a Bargain-Basement Invasion of Mars

JOHN NOBLE WILFORD  |  September 21, 1999

Two American spacecraft are approaching Mars, the second wave of economy-class robotic orbiting and landing parties in an ambitious revival of exploration of the red planet.

One spacecraft, scheduled for arrival on Thursday, is to orbit the planet and study its atmosphere, prospect for water and generally observe weather through the seasons of a full Martian year (687 days). The second craft is on course for a landing on Dec. 3 at the edge of the south polar ice cap, where the terrain is thought to hold a layered record of the planet's climate history.

Mission officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said on Monday that both spacecraft, Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander, are in excellent condition and ready for their arrival. Last week, the orbiter fired thruster jets to fine-tune its aim on the planet.  .  . 
.https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/092199sci-nasa-mars.html




Poor Management by NASA Is Blamed for Mars Failure

WARREN E. LEARY  |  March 29, 2000

W ASHINGTON, March 28 -- The Mars Polar Lander spacecraft probably failed last year because its descent engine shut down prematurely, but the mission's loss can ultimately be blamed on inadequate management, testing and financing, independent experts told NASA today.

In light of the findings, NASA officials announced a shakeup in the management of its Mars programs. They also said they had canceled plans to launch a new Mars lander next year and would probably revise or delay other missions to the planet.

In candid reports assessing recent problems with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's programs to explore Mars, two panels concluded that pressures to conform to the agency's recent credo of "faster, cheaper, better" ended up compromising ambitious projects.

To meet the new constraints, the reports said, project managers sacrificed needed testing and realistic assessments of the risks of failure.

Thomas Young, a former NASA official who was chairman of the team reviewing the agency's Mars program, said the lander and two small probes it carried that also failed were the victims of several management mistakes, including inadequate testing before launching.  .  .  .

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/032900sci-nasa-mars.html