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June 14, 2024

Voyager 1 Is Back! NASA Spacecraft Safely Resumes All Science Observations

NASA’s venerable Voyager 1 spacecraft has resumed normal science operations with all four functioning instruments for the first time in more than six months

By Meghan Bartels

Artist concept of Voyager 1.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s beloved Voyager 1 mission is back to normal science operations for the first time in more than six months, according to agency personnel. The announcement was made after NASA received data from all four of the spacecraft’s remaining science instruments.

The venerable spacecraft launched in 1977 and passed into interstellar space in 2012 , becoming the first human-made object to accomplish that feat. Today Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, are NASA’s longest-running missions . But the title has been challenging to hold on to for spacecraft that were designed to operate for just four years. The aging probes are stuck in the deep cold of outer space, their nuclear power sources are producing ever less juice, and glitches are becoming increasingly common.

Most recently, Voyager 1 faced a communications issue that began in November 2023. “We’d gone from having a conversation with Voyager, with the 1’s and 0’s containing science data, to just a dial tone,” said Linda Spilker, Voyager project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), of the spacecraft’s troubles in an interview with Scientific American in March.

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After more than six months of long-distance troubleshooting—Voyager 1 is more than 15 billion miles from Earth, and any signal takes more than 22.5 hours to travel from our planet to the spacecraft—mission personnel have finally coaxed Voyager 1 to gather and send home data with all its remaining science instruments, according to a NASA statement .

The fix required months of analysis to track the issue to a particular chip within the spacecraft’s flight data subsystem. That chip’s code couldn’t be relocated in one fell swoop, however, so mission personnel split the information chip into chunks that could be tucked into stray corners of the rest of the system’s memory. NASA began implementing the new commands in April . And in May the agency directed the aging spacecraft to resume collecting and transmitting science data. Voyager 1’s plasma-wave subsystem and magnetometer bounced back immediately. Its cosmic-ray detector and ow-energy-charged-particles instrument required additional troubleshooting, but both are now finally operating normally, according to NASA.

And although the spacecraft is back to normal operations, the work isn’t quite over. To complete spacecraft recovery from the glitch, mission personnel still need to resynchronize timekeeping software across Voyager 1’s three computers and to maintain the recorder for the spacecraft’s plasma-wave instrument, in addition to completing smaller tasks.

Taken together, Voyager 1’s four remaining instruments offer scientists a precious glimpse of interstellar space. Voyager 1 and 2 are the only two operational spacecraft to cross out of the heliosphere, the bubble of charged particles that marks the influence of the sun across the solar system. This bubble grows and shrinks as the sun passes through its 11-year activity cycle . Inside the heliosphere, space is dominated by particles of the solar wind, while outside of it, cosmic rays reign.

Scientists never dreamed that Voyager 1 would be able to taste these exotic particles. Its primary science targets were Jupiter, Saturn, and the latter planet’s rings and largest moon, Titan—all of which the spacecraft flew past within a few years of its launch. But the mission has survived every challenge to continue trekking through the solar system and into interstellar space, informing scientists about its environment along the way.

• The Contents
• The Making of
• Where Are They Now
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Q & A with Ed Stone

golden record

Where are they now.

• frequently asked questions
• Q&A with Ed Stone

NASA’s Voyager Team Focuses on Software Patch, Thrusters

NASA Mission Update: Voyager 2 Communications Pause

NASA's Voyager Will Do More Science With New Power Strategy

Edward Stone Retires After 50 Years as NASA Voyager's Project Scientist

Voyager, NASA's Longest-Lived Mission, Logs 45 Years in Space

Voyager 1 distance from earth, voyager 1 distance from sun, voyager 1 one-way light time, voyager 1 cosmic ray data, voyager 2 distance from the earth, voyager 2 distance from the sun, voyager 2 one-way light time, voyager 2 cosmic ray data, what's happening now.

Voyager 1 has resumed returning science data from two of its four instruments for the first time since a computer issue arose with the spacecraft in November 2023.

Since November 2023, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has been sending a steady radio signal to Earth, but the signal does not contain usable data.

Engineers are working to resolve an issue with one of Voyager 1’s three onboard computers, called the flight data system (FDS).

Download the Voyager 40th Anniversary posters.

Inside NASA's 5-month fight to save the Voyager 1 mission in interstellar space

After working for five months to re-establish communication with the farthest-flung human-made object in existence, NASA announced this week that the Voyager 1 probe had finally phoned home.

For the engineers and scientists who work on NASA’s longest-operating mission in space, it was a moment of joy and intense relief.

“That Saturday morning, we all came in, we’re sitting around boxes of doughnuts and waiting for the data to come back from Voyager,” said Linda Spilker, the project scientist for the Voyager 1 mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “We knew exactly what time it was going to happen, and it got really quiet and everybody just sat there and they’re looking at the screen.”

When at long last the spacecraft returned the agency’s call, Spilker said the room erupted in celebration.

“There were cheers, people raising their hands,” she said. “And a sense of relief, too — that OK, after all this hard work and going from barely being able to have a signal coming from Voyager to being in communication again, that was a tremendous relief and a great feeling.”

The problem with Voyager 1 was first detected in November . At the time, NASA said it was still in contact with the spacecraft and could see that it was receiving signals from Earth. But what was being relayed back to mission controllers — including science data and information about the health of the probe and its various systems — was garbled and unreadable.

That kicked off a monthslong push to identify what had gone wrong and try to save the Voyager 1 mission.

Spilker said she and her colleagues stayed hopeful and optimistic, but the team faced enormous challenges. For one, engineers were trying to troubleshoot a spacecraft traveling in interstellar space , more than 15 billion miles away — the ultimate long-distance call.

“With Voyager 1, it takes 22 1/2 hours to get the signal up and 22 1/2 hours to get the signal back, so we’d get the commands ready, send them up, and then like two days later, you’d get the answer if it had worked or not,” Spilker said.

The team eventually determined that the issue stemmed from one of the spacecraft’s three onboard computers. Spilker said a hardware failure, perhaps as a result of age or because it was hit by radiation, likely messed up a small section of code in the memory of the computer. The glitch meant Voyager 1 was unable to send coherent updates about its health and science observations.

NASA engineers determined that they would not be able to repair the chip where the mangled software is stored. And the bad code was also too large for Voyager 1's computer to store both it and any newly uploaded instructions. Because the technology aboard Voyager 1 dates back to the 1960s and 1970s, the computer’s memory pales in comparison to any modern smartphone. Spilker said it’s roughly equivalent to the amount of memory in an electronic car key.

The team found a workaround, however: They could divide up the code into smaller parts and store them in different areas of the computer’s memory. Then, they could reprogram the section that needed fixing while ensuring that the entire system still worked cohesively.

That was a feat, because the longevity of the Voyager mission means there are no working test beds or simulators here on Earth to test the new bits of code before they are sent to the spacecraft.

“There were three different people looking through line by line of the patch of the code we were going to send up, looking for anything that they had missed,” Spilker said. “And so it was sort of an eyes-only check of the software that we sent up.”

The hard work paid off.

NASA reported the happy development Monday, writing in a post on X : “Sounding a little more like yourself, #Voyager1.” The spacecraft’s own social media account responded , saying, “Hi, it’s me.”

So far, the team has determined that Voyager 1 is healthy and operating normally. Spilker said the probe’s scientific instruments are on and appear to be working, but it will take some time for Voyager 1 to resume sending back science data.

Voyager 1 and its twin, the Voyager 2 probe, each launched in 1977 on missions to study the outer solar system. As it sped through the cosmos, Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter and Saturn, studying the planets’ moons up close and snapping images along the way.

Voyager 2, which is 12.6 billion miles away, had close encounters with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and continues to operate as normal.

In 2012, Voyager 1 ventured beyond the solar system , becoming the first human-made object to enter interstellar space, or the space between stars. Voyager 2 followed suit in 2018.

Spilker, who first began working on the Voyager missions when she graduated college in 1977, said the missions could last into the 2030s. Eventually, though, the probes will run out of power or their components will simply be too old to continue operating.

Spilker said it will be tough to finally close out the missions someday, but Voyager 1 and 2 will live on as “our silent ambassadors.”

Both probes carry time capsules with them — messages on gold-plated copper disks that are collectively known as The Golden Record . The disks contain images and sounds that represent life on Earth and humanity’s culture, including snippets of music, animal sounds, laughter and recorded greetings in different languages. The idea is for the probes to carry the messages until they are possibly found by spacefarers in the distant future.

“Maybe in 40,000 years or so, they will be getting relatively close to another star,” Spilker said, “and they could be found at that point.”

Denise Chow is a reporter for NBC News Science focused on general science and climate change.

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NASA’s Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, is doing science again after problem

FILE - This illustration provided by NASA depicts Voyager 1. The most distant spacecraft from Earth stopped sending back understandable data in November 2023. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California announced this week that Voyager 1’s four scientific instruments are back in business after a technical snafu in November. (NASA via AP, File)

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DALLAS (AP) — NASA’s Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, is sending science data again.

Voyager 1’s four instruments are back in business after a computer problem in November, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said this week. The team first received meaningful information again from Voyager 1 in April, and recently commanded it to start studying its environment again.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is drifting through interstellar space, or the space between star systems. Before reaching this region, the spacecraft discovered a thin ring around Jupiter and several of Saturn’s moons. Its instruments are designed to collect information about plasma waves, magnetic fields and particles.

Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles (24.14 kilometers) from Earth. Its twin Voyager 2 — also in interstellar space — is more than 12 billion miles (19.31 kilometers) miles away.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Voyager 1 Sends Clear Data to NASA for the First Time in Five Months

The farthest spacecraft from Earth had been transmitting nonsense since November, but after an engineering tweak, it finally beamed back a report on its health and status

Will Sullivan

Daily Correspondent

For the first time in five months, NASA has received usable data from Voyager 1, the farthest spacecraft from Earth.

The aging probe, which has traveled more than 15 billion miles into space, stopped transmitting science and engineering data on November 14. Instead, it sent NASA a nonsensical stream of repetitive binary code . For months, the agency’s engineers undertook a slow process of trial and error, giving the spacecraft various commands and waiting to see how it responded. Thanks to some creative thinking, the team identified a broken chip on the spacecraft and relocated some of the code that was stored there, according to the agency .

NASA is now receiving data about the health and status of Voyager 1’s engineering systems. The next step is to get the spacecraft to start sending science data again.

“Today was a great day for Voyager 1,” Linda Spilker , a Voyager project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said in a statement over the weekend, per CNN ’s Ashley Strickland. “We’re back in communication with the spacecraft. And we look forward to getting science data back.”

Hi, it's me. - V1 https://t.co/jgGFBfxIOe — NASA Voyager (@NASAVoyager) April 22, 2024

Voyager 1 and its companion, Voyager 2, separately launched from Earth in 1977. Between the two of them, the probes have studied all four giant planets in the outer solar system—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—along with 48 of their moons and the planets’ magnetic fields. The spacecraft observed Saturn’s rings in detail and discovered active volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io .

Originally designed for a five-year mission within our solar system, both probes are still operational and chugging along through space, far beyond Pluto’s orbit. In 2012, Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to reach interstellar space, the area between stars. The probe is now about eight times farther from the sun than Uranus is on average.

Over the decades, the Voyager spacecraft have transmitted data collected on their travels back to NASA scientists. But in November, Voyager 1 started sending gibberish .

Engineers determined Voyager 1’s issue was with one of three onboard computers, called the flight data system (FDS), NASA said in a December blog post . While the spacecraft was still receiving and executing commands from Earth, the FDS was not communicating properly with a subsystem called the telemetry modulation unit (TMU). The FDS collects science and engineering data and combines it into a package that the TMU transmits back to Earth.

Since Voyager 1 is so far away, testing solutions to its technical issues requires time—it takes 22.5 hours for commands to reach the probe and another 22.5 hours for Voyager 1’s response to come back.

On March 1, engineers sent a command that coaxed Voyager 1 into sending a readout of the FDS memory, NASA said in a March 13 blog post . From that readout, the team confirmed a small part—about 3 percent—of the system’s memory had been corrupted, NASA said in an April 4 update .

The core of the problem turned out to be a faulty chip hosting some software code and part of the FDS memory. NASA doesn’t know what caused the chip to stop working—it could be that a high-energy particle from space collided with it, or the chip might have just run out of steam after almost 50 years spent hurtling through the cosmos.

“It’s the most serious issue we’ve had since I’ve been the project manager, and it’s scary because you lose communication with the spacecraft,” Suzanne Dodd , Voyager project manager at JPL, told Scientific American ’s Nadia Drake in March.

To receive usable data again, the engineers needed to move the affected code somewhere else that wasn’t broken. But no single location in the FDS memory was large enough to hold all of the code, so the engineers divided it into chunks and stored it in multiple places, per NASA .

The team started with moving the code responsible for sending Voyager’s status reports, sending it to its new location in the FDS memory on April 18. They received confirmation that the strategy worked on April 20, when the first data on the spacecraft’s health since November arrived on Earth.

In the next several weeks, the team will relocate the parts of the FDS software that can start returning science data.

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Will Sullivan | | READ MORE

Will Sullivan is a science writer based in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in Inside Science and NOVA Next .

NASA's Voyager 1, the Most Distant Spacecraft From Earth, Is Doing Science Again After Problem

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is sending science data again

NASA's Voyager 1, the Most Distant Spacecraft From Earth, Is Doing Science Again After Problem

FILE - This illustration provided by NASA depicts Voyager 1. The most distant spacecraft from Earth stopped sending back understandable data in November 2023. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California announced this week that Voyager 1's four scientific instruments are back in business after a technical snafu in November. (NASA via AP, File)

DALLAS (AP) — NASA's Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, is sending science data again.

Voyager 1's four instruments are back in business after a computer problem in November, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said this week. The team first received meaningful information again from Voyager 1 in April, and recently commanded it to start studying its environment again.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is drifting through interstellar space, or the space between star systems. Before reaching this region, the spacecraft discovered a thin ring around Jupiter and several of Saturn’s moons. Its instruments are designed to collect information about plasma waves, magnetic fields and particles.

Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles (24.14 kilometers) from Earth. Its twin Voyager 2 — also in interstellar space — is more than 12 billion miles (19.31 kilometers) miles away.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Copyright 2024 The  Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Voyager 1: Facts about Earth's farthest spacecraft

Voyager 1 continues to explore the cosmos along with its twin probe, Voyager 2.

The Grand Tour

Voyager 1 jupiter flyby, voyager 1 visits saturn and its moons, voyager 1 enters interstellar space, voyager 1's interstellar adventures, additional resources.

Voyager 1 is the first spacecraft to travel beyond the solar system and reach interstellar space . 

The probe launched on Sept. 5, 1977 — about two weeks after its twin Voyager 2 — and as of August 2022 is approximately 14.6 billion miles (23.5 billion kilometers) away from our planet, making it Earth 's farthest spacecraft. Voyager 1 is currently zipping through space at around 38,000 mph (17 kilometers per second), according to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory .

When Voyager 1 launched a mission to explore the outer planets in our solar system nobody knew how important the probe would still be 45 years later The probe has remained operational long past expectations and continues to send information about its journeys back to Earth. 

Related: Celebrate 45 years of Voyager with these amazing images of our solar system (gallery)

Elizabeth Howell, Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022. She was contributing writer for  Space.com  for 10 years before that, since 2012. Elizabeth's on-site reporting includes two human spaceflight launches from Kazakhstan, three space shuttle missions in Florida, and embedded reporting from a simulated Mars mission in Utah. 

Size: Voyager 1's body is about the size of a subcompact car. The boom for its magnetometer instrument extends 42.7 feet (13 meters). Weight (at launch): 1,797 pounds (815 kilograms). Launch date: Sept. 5, 1977

Jupiter flyby date: March 5, 1979

Saturn flyby date: Nov. 12, 1980.

Entered interstellar space: Aug. 25, 2012. 

The spacecraft entered interstellar space in August 2012, almost 35 years after its voyage began. The discovery wasn't made official until 2013, however, when scientists had time to review the data sent back from Voyager 1.

Voyager 1 was the second of the twin spacecraft to launch, but it was the first to race by Jupiter and Saturn . The images Voyager 1 sent back have been used in schoolbooks and by many media outlets for a generation. The spacecraft also carries a special record — The Golden Record — that's designed to carry voices and music from Earth out into the cosmos. 

According to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) , Voyager 1 has enough fuel to keep its instruments running until at least 2025. By then, the spacecraft will be approximately 13.8 billion miles (22.1 billion kilometers) away from the sun.  

The Voyager missions took advantage of a special alignment of the outer planets that happens just once every 176 years. This alignment allows spacecraft to gravitationally "slingshot" from one planet to the next, making the most efficient use of their limited fuel.

NASA originally planned to send two spacecraft past Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto and two other probes past Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune . Budgetary reasons forced the agency to scale back its plans, but NASA still got a lot out of the two Voyagers it launched.

Voyager 2 flew past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune , while Voyager 1 focused on Jupiter and Saturn.

Recognizing that the Voyagers would eventually fly to interstellar space, NASA authorized the production of two Golden Records to be placed on board the spacecraft. Sounds ranging from whale calls to the music of Chuck Berry were placed on board, as well as spoken greetings in 55 languages. 

The 12-inch-wide (30 centimeters), gold-plated copper disks also included pictorials showing how to operate them and the position of the sun among nearby pulsars (a type of fast-spinning stellar corpse known as a neutron star ), in case extraterrestrials someday stumbled onto the spacecraft and wondered where they came from.

Both spacecraft are powered by three radioisotope thermoelectric generators , devices that convert the heat released by the radioactive decay of plutonium to electricity. Both probes were outfitted with 10 scientific instruments, including a two-camera imaging system, multiple spectrometers, a magnetometer and gear that detects low-energy charged particles and high-energy cosmic rays . Mission team members have also used the Voyagers' communications system to help them study planets and moons, bringing the total number of scientific investigations on each craft to 11.

Voyager 1 almost didn't get off the ground at its launch , as its rocket came within 3.5 seconds of running out of fuel on Sept. 5, 1977.

But the probe made it safely to space and raced past its twin after launch, getting beyond the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter before Voyager 2 did. Voyager 1's first pictures of Jupiter beamed back to Earth in April 1978, when the probe was 165 million miles (266 million kilometers) from home.

According to NASA , each voyager probe has about 3 million times less memory than a mobile phone and transmits data approximately 38,000 times slower than a 5g internet connection.  

To NASA's surprise, in March 1979 Voyager 1 spotted a thin ring circling the giant planet. It found two new moons as well — Thebe and Metis. Additionally, Voyager 1 sent back detailed pictures of Jupiter's big Galilean moons ( Io , Europa , Ganymede and Callisto ) as well as Amalthea .

Like the Pioneer spacecraft before it , Voyager's look at Jupiter's moons revealed them to be active worlds of their own. And Voyager 1 made some intriguing discoveries about these natural satellites. For example, Io's many volcanoes and mottled yellow-brown-orange surface showed that, like planets, moons can have active interiors.

Additionally, Voyager 1 sent back photos of Europa showing a relatively smooth surface broken up by lines, hinting at ice and maybe even an ocean underneath. (Subsequent observations and analyses have revealed that Europa likely harbors a huge subsurface ocean of liquid water, which may even be able to support Earth-like life .)

Voyager 1's closest approach to Jupiter was on March 5, 1979, when it came within 174,000 miles (280,000 km) of the turbulent cloud tops. Then it was time for the probe to aim for Saturn.

Scientists only had to wait about a year, until 1980, to get close-up pictures of Saturn. Like Jupiter, the ringed planet turned out to be full of surprises.

One of Voyager 1's targets was the F ring, a thin structure discovered only the year previously by NASA's Pioneer 11 probe. Voyager's higher-resolution camera spotted two new moons, Prometheus and Pandora, whose orbits keep the icy material in the F ring in a defined orbit. It also discovered Atlas and a new ring, the G ring, and took images of several other Saturn moons.

One puzzle for astronomers was Titan , the second-largest moon in the solar system (after Jupiter's Ganymede). Close-up pictures of Titan showed nothing but orange haze, leading to years of speculation about what it was like underneath. It wouldn't be until the mid-2000s that humanity would find out, thanks to photos snapped from beneath the haze by the European Space Agency's Huygens atmospheric probe .

The Saturn encounter marked the end of Voyager 1's primary mission. The focus then shifted to tracking the 1,590-pound (720 kg) craft as it sped toward interstellar space.

Two decades before it notched that milestone, however, Voyager 1 took one of the most iconic photos in spaceflight history. On Feb. 14, 1990, the probe turned back toward Earth and snapped an image of its home planet from 3.7 billion miles (6 billion km) away. The photo shows Earth as a tiny dot suspended in a ray of sunlight. 

Voyager 1 took dozens of other photos that day, capturing five other planets and the sun in a multi-image "solar system family portrait." But the Pale Blue Dot picture stands out, reminding us that Earth is a small outpost of life in an incomprehensibly vast universe.

Voyager 1 left the heliosphere — the giant bubble of charged particles that the sun blows around itself — in August 2012, popping free into interstellar space. The discovery was made public in a study published in the journal Science the following year.

The results came to light after a powerful solar eruption was recorded by Voyager 1's plasma wave instrument between April 9 and May 22, 2013. The eruption caused electrons near Voyager 1 to vibrate. From the oscillations, researchers discovered that Voyager 1's surroundings had a higher density than what is found just inside the heliosphere.

It seems contradictory that electron density is higher in interstellar space than it is in the sun's neighborhood. But researchers explained that, at the edge of the heliosphere, the electron density is dramatically low compared with locations near Earth. 

Researchers then backtracked through Voyager 1's data and nailed down the official departure date to Aug. 25, 2012. The date was fixed not only by the electron oscillations but also by the spacecraft's measurements of charged solar particles. 

On that fateful day — which was the same day that Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong died — the probe saw a 1,000-fold drop in these particles and a 9% increase in galactic cosmic rays that come from outside the solar system . At that point, Voyager 1 was 11.25 billion miles (18.11 billion km) from the sun, or about 121 astronomical units (AU).

One AU is the average Earth-sun distance — about 93 million miles (150 million km).

You can keep tabs on the Voyager 1's current distance and mission status on this NASA website .

Since flying into interstellar space, Voyager 1 has sent back a variety of valuable information about conditions in this zone of the universe . Its discoveries include showing that cosmic radiation out there is very intense, and demonstrating how charged particles from the sun interact with those emitted by other stars , mission project scientist Ed Stone, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, told Space.com in September 2017 .

The spacecraft's capabilities continue to astound engineers. In December 2017, for example, NASA announced that Voyager 1 successfully used its backup thrusters to orient itself to "talk" with Earth . The trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) thrusters hadn't been used since November 1980, during Voyager 1's flyby of Saturn. Since then, the spacecraft had primarily used its standard attitude-control thrusters to swing the spacecraft in the right orientation to communicate with Earth. 

As the performance of the attitude-control thrusters began to deteriorate, however, NASA decided to test the TCM thrusters — an idea that could extend Voyager 1's operational life. That test ultimately succeeded. 

"With these thrusters that are still functional after 37 years without use, we will be able to extend the life of the Voyager 1 spacecraft by two to three years," Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd, of NASA's Jet Propulsion, Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, said in a statement in December 2017 .

Mission team members have taken other measures to extend Voyager 1's life as well. For example, they turned off the spacecraft's cameras shortly after the Pale Blue Dot photo was taken to help conserve Voyager 1's limited power supply. (The cameras wouldn't pick up much in the darkness of deep space anyway.) Over the years, the mission team has turned off five other scientific instruments as well, leaving Voyager 1 with four that are still functioning — the Cosmic Ray Subsystem, the Low-Energy Charged Particles instrument, the Magnetometer and the Plasma Wave Subsystem. (Similar measures have been taken with Voyager 2, which currently has five operational instruments .)

The Voyager spacecraft each celebrated 45 years in space in 2022, a monumental milestone for the twin probes.

"Over the last 45 years, the Voyager missions have been integral in providing this knowledge and have helped change our understanding of the sun and its influence in ways no other spacecraft can," says Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, in a NASA statement .

"Today, as both Voyagers explore interstellar space, they are providing humanity with observations of uncharted territory," said Linda Spilker, Voyager's deputy project scientist at JPL in the same NASA statement.

"This is the first time we've been able to directly study how a star, our Sun, interacts with the particles and magnetic fields outside our heliosphere, helping scientists understand the local neighborhood between the stars, upending some of the theories about this region, and providing key information for future missions." Spilker continues.

Voyager 1's next big encounter will take place in 40,000 years when the probe comes within 1.7 light-years of the star AC +79 3888. (The star is roughly 17.5 light-years from Earth.) However, Voyager 1's falling power supply means it will probably stop collecting scientific data around 2025.

You can learn much more about both Voyagers' design, scientific instruments and mission goals at JPL's Voyager site . NASA has lots of in-depth information about the Pale Blue Dot photo, including Carl Sagan's large role in making it happen, here . And if you're interested in the Golden Record, check out this detailed New Yorker piece by Timothy Ferris, who produced the historic artifact.  Explore the history of Voyager with this interactive timeline courtesy of NASA.  

Bibliography

• Bell, Jim. " The Interstellar Age: Inside the Forty-Year Voyager Mission ," Dutton, 2015.
• Landau, Elizabeth. "The Voyagers in popular culture," Dec. 1, 2017. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/the-voyagers-in-popular-culture
• PBS, "Voyager: A history in photos." https://www.pbs.org/the-farthest/mission/voyager-history-photos/

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Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, " Why Am I Taller ?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace

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NASA’s Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to Earth

NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is depicted in this artist’s concept traveling through interstellar space, or the space between stars, which it entered in 2012.

After some inventive sleuthing, the mission team can — for the first time in five months — check the health and status of the most distant human-made object in existence.

For the first time since November , NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is returning usable data about the health and status of its onboard engineering systems. The next step is to enable the spacecraft to begin returning science data again. The probe and its twin, Voyager 2, are the only spacecraft to ever fly in interstellar space (the space between stars).

Voyager 1 stopped sending readable science and engineering data back to Earth on Nov. 14, 2023, even though mission controllers could tell the spacecraft was still receiving their commands and otherwise operating normally. In March, the Voyager engineering team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California confirmed that the issue was tied to one of the spacecraft’s three onboard computers, called the flight data subsystem (FDS). The FDS is responsible for packaging the science and engineering data before it’s sent to Earth.

After receiving data about the health and status of Voyager 1 for the first time in five months, members of the Voyager flight team celebrate in a conference room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on April 20.

The team discovered that a single chip responsible for storing a portion of the FDS memory — including some of the FDS computer’s software code — isn’t working. The loss of that code rendered the science and engineering data unusable. Unable to repair the chip, the team decided to place the affected code elsewhere in the FDS memory. But no single location is large enough to hold the section of code in its entirety.

So they devised a plan to divide the affected code into sections and store those sections in different places in the FDS. To make this plan work, they also needed to adjust those code sections to ensure, for example, that they all still function as a whole. Any references to the location of that code in other parts of the FDS memory needed to be updated as well.

The team started by singling out the code responsible for packaging the spacecraft’s engineering data. They sent it to its new location in the FDS memory on April 18. A radio signal takes about 22 ½ hours to reach Voyager 1, which is over 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, and another 22 ½ hours for a signal to come back to Earth. When the mission flight team heard back from the spacecraft on April 20, they saw that the modification worked: For the first time in five months, they have been able to check the health and status of the spacecraft.

Get the Latest News from the Final Frontier

During the coming weeks, the team will relocate and adjust the other affected portions of the FDS software. These include the portions that will start returning science data.

Voyager 2 continues to operate normally. Launched over 46 years ago , the twin Voyager spacecraft are the longest-running and most distant spacecraft in history. Before the start of their interstellar exploration, both probes flew by Saturn and Jupiter, and Voyager 2 flew by Uranus and Neptune.

Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages JPL for NASA.

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Calla Cofield

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

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Good news from Voyager 1, which is now out past the edge of the solar system

Nell Greenfieldboyce

In mid-November, Voyager 1 suffered a glitch, and it's messages stopped making sense. But the NASA probe is once again sending messages to Earth that make sense.

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

NASA’s Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft…

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Nasa’s voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from earth, is doing science again after problem.

DALLAS (AP) — NASA’s Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, is sending science data again.

Voyager 1’s four instruments are back in business after a computer problem in November, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said this week. The team first received meaningful information again from Voyager 1 in April, and recently commanded it to start studying its environment again.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is drifting through interstellar space, or the space between star systems. Before reaching this region, the spacecraft discovered a thin ring around Jupiter and several of Saturn’s moons. Its instruments are designed to collect information about plasma waves, magnetic fields and particles.

Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles (24.14 kilometers) from Earth. Its twin Voyager 2 — also in interstellar space — is more than 12 billion miles (19.31 kilometers) miles away.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Voyager 1 probe has nine lives, is operating its four instruments once again

Having suffered through a tricky glitch, the incredible Voyager 1 spacecraft is now operational once again, with data coming in from all four of its current scientific instruments. The spacecraft is nearly 50 years old, having launched in 1977, and has long since traveled beyond the orbit of Pluto and out into interstellar space.

The recent issues with Voyager 1 began in November 2023, with a glitch affecting a system called the flight data subsystem (FDS). This is a piece of the spacecraft’s onboard computer system that is responsible for packaging up both the science data (data from the instruments) and engineering data (data about the spacecraft’s health) for transmission back to Earth. After months of investigation, the team discovered the problem was caused by a single chip that stores data for the FDS, so they worked out a way to store that data elsewhere on other systems.

That fix was implemented in April this year , and two of Voyager’s instruments came back online at that time: the plasma wave subsystem and magnetometer instrument. But two other instruments, the cosmic ray subsystem and low energy charged particle instrument, didn’t immediately work, so further tweaking had to be performed to get them running again. Now, all four of these instruments are operating for the first time in around six months.

• Computer glitch hampers Voyager 1’s communication system
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• Beyond our solar system, Voyager 1 picks up the hum of interstellar gas

That’s great news for the spacecraft, but the work isn’t finished yet. “Additional minor work is needed to clean up the effects of the issue,” NASA wrote in an update , specifying the need to perform tasks like resychronizing the timekeeping systems of the onboard computers and doing maintenance on the plasma wave instrument’s digital tape recorder.

Now, Voyager 1 will be able to continue its science investigations of the area of space beyond the direct influence of the sun, called interstellar space. Along with its twin probe, Voyager 2, it is the most distant man-made object in the universe, and the two are the only spacecraft to operate outside the heliosphere (the magnetic fields of the sun). Despite its age and extreme distance from Earth, which makes communications with the spacecraft very slow, it continues to perform valuable science like studying interstellar gas and observing energy bursts in interstellar space.

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SpaceX has scrubbed its Starlink launch planned for July 11, stating that it has delayed the launch "to allow more time for checkouts." The company also stated it was working to identify a new launch opportunity, with a new date to be announced once confirmed.

This is yet another canceled attempt to launch its 10th batch of Starlink satellites into orbit after having to postpone several times.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying a Boeing Starliner spacecraft launches NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. NASA Television

The Boeing Starliner spacecraft has finally launched, taking off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today, June 5. This is the third attempt at a launch for the spacecraft, which is carrying two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

A ULA Atlas V rocket transporting the Starliner spacecraft to orbit lifts off on Wednesday. Boeing Space

After years of delays and multiple launch postponements in recent weeks, Boeing Space’s Starliner spacecraft finally transported its first crew to orbit on Wednesday, June 6.

Screen Rant

1 voyager episode hilariously poked fun at star trek’s holodeck problem.

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Every Voyager Character Who Has Returned In Star Trek (& How)

1 of star trek: voyager’s best episodes was saved by rick berman, road house is no longer jake gyllenhaal’s most impressive role of 2024.

• Voyager season 3 mocked Star Trek's repetitive holodeck programs.
• The season 3 episode "Worst Case Scenario" made fun of typical holodeck tropes while also subverting them.
• Despite "Worst Case Scenario," Voyager continued using uninspired holodeck plots throughout its run.

Star Trek: Voyager season 3 cleverly made fun of a systemic problem the franchise has with holodeck episodes. Like some other Star Trek TV shows , Voyager season 3 was in many ways the beginning of a turning point for the show , where better quality episodes began to appear with more frequency than seasons 1 and 2. Especially toward the end of season 3, when Voyager was moving towards some big shifts at the start of season 4, the season picked up momentum, delivering several great episodes in a row.

One of these episodes, Voyager season 3, episode 25, "Worst Case Scenario," included a holodeck-centric storyline. The episode's plot revolved around a holonovel about a mutiny by Voyager 's Maquis crew members written by Tuvok (Tim Russ) as a training exercise. When it was revealed that the program was unfinished, Tuvok and Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) took it upon themselves to continue it at the crew's request. At the end of the episode, however, Voyager 's cast of characters began suggesting ideas for other holonovels Tuvok and Tom could work on, such as “ a Western ” or “ a detective story. ”

Star Trek: Voyager's beloved characters have returned in Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and especially Star Trek: Prodigy.

Voyager’s “Worst Case Scenario” Made Fun Of How Repetitive Star Trek’s Holodeck Programs Are

Voyager pointed out that star trek doesn't get creative enough with its holodeck programs.

With these two innocuous lines, Voyager cleverly made fun of the limitations that constrain even Star Trek 's best holodeck episodes. Mentioning Western and Detective fiction seems to be an allusion to both the Dixon Hill program and the Western holonovel in “A Fistful Of Datas” from Star Trek: TNG . Including subtle references like this made it seem like Voyager was pointing out the irony that Starfleet officers can program anything they want on the holodeck, but instead often choose from a very limited range of ideas for their entertainment.

Instead of branching out, the franchise chose to stick with exactly what was familiar for the rest of TNG and into DS9 and Voyager.

The scope of what the holodeck can create is supposedly limitless, but characters always choose from very basic tropes , or often a literary take-off like Sherlock Holmes or Jane Eyre . This was started in TNG with the introduction of the holodeck and Star Trek 's first holodeck-centric episode, "The Big Goodbye." However, instead of branching out, the franchise chose to stick with exactly what was familiar for the rest of TNG and into DS9 and Voyager . Although DS9 occasionally used their holosuites a little differently, Voyager certainly continued the trend in many of its episodes.

How Voyager Subverted Star Trek's Usual Holodeck Tropes In “Worst Case Scenario”

"worst case scenario" was a different kind of holodeck episode.

Interestingly, however, "Worst Case Scenario" is a subversion of the usual holodeck tropes. A holonovel about Voyager 's crew is already different from the norm, as other shows generally used the holodeck to put characters in fantastical settings. Likewise, a program that directly pits the show's characters against each other was an even more unique idea . It was also realistically something only Voyager could do given that half the crew was former Maquis. Other Starfleet officers would have no reason to mutiny against each other, but Voyager 's tenuous Maquis-Starfleet relations were a hallmark of the show's early seasons.

Unfortunately, "Worst Case Scenario" proved to be the exception rather than the rule, and Star Trek: Voyager continued to use its holodeck in the same, uninspired vein for the rest of its run. Additionally, since the series ended in the early 2000s, there have been hardly any holodeck-related episodes in other franchise projects, providing Star Trek with no chance to break the mold . Hopefully, future projects, especially ones set in the far future established by Star Trek: Discovery , can provide opportunities to switch up the usual holodeck formula.

Star Trek: Voyager

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The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they've never faced before. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation is the third installment in the sci-fi franchise and follows the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew members of the USS Enterprise. Set around one hundred years after the original series, Picard and his crew travel through the galaxy in largely self-contained episodes exploring the crew dynamics and their own political discourse. The series also had several overarching plots that would develop over the course of the isolated episodes, with four films released in tandem with the series to further some of these story elements.

2 Mega Millions tickets worth $1 million sold at Publix. Here are Friday, June 14, numbers

Will a $2 ticket make you a multimillionaire? Will something fortuitous happen in this Mega Millions drawing?

After no one matched all five numbers plus the Mega Ball in the Tuesday, June 11, drawing for $30 million, the jackpot jumped to $47 million with a cash option of $22.6 million for Friday, June 14. Friday’s winning numbers were 1-25-26-31-65 and the Mega Ball was 2 . Megaplier was 3x. We’ll see if there’s a winner or another rollover.

In case you’re wondering, Tuesday’s winning numbers were 1-5-7-22-24 and the Mega Ball was 8. Megaplier was 4x. Though Tuesday’s drawing resulted in a rollover, it wasn’t all bad news: In fact, no one could predict the odds of two tickets purchased from two Publix stores on the same street in the same city for the same Mega Millions drawing. But it happened June 11.

According to the Florida Lottery, there were two secondary winners, each winning $1 million for matching five numbers. The tickets came from Publix, 10500 Ulmerton Road, Suite 800, Largo, and Publix, 10411 Ulmerton Road, Largo.

Mega Millions  tickets start at $2 apiece . Below are some frequently asked questions about the game, when winning tickets expire in Florida (it differs state by state)  and lottery  odds. Good luck!

What were winning Mega Millions numbers for Friday, June 14, 2024? 1-25-26-31-65 and the Mega Ball was 2

Mega Millions lottery drawings are at 11 p.m. EST Tuesdays and Fridays. Friday, June 14, winning numbers were 1-25-26-31-65 and the Mega Ball was 2. Megaplier was 3x.

When is the next Mega Millions lottery drawing?

Mega Millions drawings are at 11 p.m. EST Tuesdays and Fridays. The next Mega Millions lottery drawing will be at 11 p.m. EST Tuesday, June 18, 2024.

How long has Mega Millions rolled over?

This Mega Millions lottery streak started Friday, June 7, after someone in Illinois matched all five numbers plus the Mega Ball in the Tuesday, June 4, drawing for $560 million. Below is a recap of lottery drawings and how the jackpot has grown since then.

• Friday, June 14: $47 million
• Tuesday, June 11: $30 million
• Friday, June 7: $20 million

How long do you have to cash in a winning Florida Lottery ticket?

Prizes for Florida Lottery must be claimed within 180 days (six months) from the date of the drawing. To claim a single-payment cash option, a winner has within the first 60 days after the applicable draw date to claim it.

What are the odds of winning Mega Millions?

The odds of winning are pretty low. According to the  Mega Millions site , players have a 1 in 302,575,350 chance to match all five white balls plus the gold Mega Ball. Prizes range from $2 (for matching the Mega Ball) to the grand prize jackpot, which varies.

Does the Florida Lottery reveal lottery winners? Can you stay anonymous if you win lottery in Florida?

According to  Florida Lottery's website , winners cannot remain anonymous: "Florida law mandates that the Florida Lottery provide records containing information such as the winner's name, city of residence; game won, date won, and amount won to any third party who requests the information."

However, the site states, the "names of lottery winners claiming prizes of $250,000 or greater will be temporarily exempt from public disclosure for 90 days from the date the prize is claimed, unless otherwise waived by the winner."

Lottery experts and lawyers have said there are ways to remain anonymous if you win.

Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her on  Twitter  or Instagram at  @byjensangalang . Support local journalism.  Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper .

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A ship called Quest —

Shackleton died on board the quest ; ship’s wreckage has just been found, "his final voyage kind of ended that heroic age of exploration.".

Jennifer Ouellette - Jun 13, 2024 10:15 pm UTC

Famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton famously defied the odds to survive the sinking of his ship, Endurance , which became trapped in sea ice in 1914. His luck ran out on his follow-up expedition; he died unexpectedly of a heart attack in 1922 on board a ship called Quest . The ship survived that expedition and sailed for another 40 years, eventually sinking in 1962 after its hull was pierced by ice on a seal-hunting run. Shipwreck hunters have now located the remains of the converted Norwegian sealer in the Labrador Sea, off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The wreckage of Endurance was found in pristine condition in 2022 at the bottom of the Weddell Sea.

The Quest expedition's relatively minor accomplishments might lack the nail-biting drama of the Endurance saga, but the wreck is nonetheless historically significant. "His final voyage kind of ended that Heroic Age of Exploration, of polar exploration, certainly in the south," renowned shipwreck hunter David Mearns told the BBC . "Afterwards, it was what you would call the scientific age. In the pantheon of polar ships, Quest is definitely an icon."

As previously reported , Endurance set sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts, on August 6, 1914, with Shackleton joining his crew in Buenos Aires, Argentina. By January 1915, the ship had become hopelessly locked in sea ice, unable to continue its voyage. For 10 months, the crew endured the freezing conditions, waiting for the ice to break up. The ship's structure remained intact, but by October 25, Shackleton realized Endurance was doomed. He and his men opted to camp out on the ice some two miles (3.2 km) away, taking as many supplies as they could with them.

Further Reading

Compacted ice and snow continued to fill the ship until a pressure wave hit on November 13, crushing the bow and splitting the main mast—all of which was captured on camera by crew photographer Frank Hurley. Another pressure wave hit in late afternoon November 21, lifting the ship's stern. The ice floes parted just long enough for Endurance to finally sink into the ocean, before closing again to erase any trace of the wreckage.

When the sea ice finally disintegrated in April 1916, the crew launched lifeboats and managed to reach Elephant Island five days later. Shackleton and five of his men set off for South Georgia the next month to get help—a treacherous 720-mile journey by open boat. A storm blew them off course, and they ended up landing on the unoccupied southern shore. So Shackleton left three men behind while he and a companion navigated dangerous mountain terrain to reach the whaling station at Stromness on May 2. A relief ship collected the other three men and finally arrived back on Elephant Island in August. Miraculously, Shackleton's entire crew was still alive.

Shackleton’s last voyage

By the time Shackleton got back to England, the country was embroiled in World War I, and many of his men enlisted. Shackleton was considered too old for active service. He was also deeply in debt from the Endurance expedition, earning a living on the lecture circuit. But he still dreamed of making another expedition to the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska to explore the Beaufort Sea. He got seed money (and eventually full funding) from an old school chum, John Quillier Rowett . Shackleton purchased a wooden Norwegian whaler, Foca I , which his wife Emily renamed Quest .

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Voyager 1 Helps Solve Interstellar Medium Mystery

NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft made history in 2012 by entering interstellar space, leaving the planets and the solar wind behind. But observations from the pioneering probe were puzzling with regard to the magnetic field around it, as they differed from what scientists derived from observations by other spacecraft.

A new study offers fresh insights into this mystery. Writing in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, Nathan Schwadron of the University of New Hampshire, Durham, and colleagues reanalyzed magnetic field data from Voyager 1 and found that the direction of the magnetic field has been slowly turning ever since the spacecraft crossed into interstellar space. They believe this is an effect of the nearby boundary of the solar wind, a stream of charged particles that comes from the sun.

"This study provides very strong evidence that Voyager 1 is in a region where the magnetic field is being deflected by the solar wind," said Schwadron, lead author of the study.

Researchers predict that in 10 years Voyager 1 will reach a more "pristine" region of the interstellar medium where the solar wind does not significantly influence the magnetic field.

Voyager 1's crossing into interstellar space meant it had left the heliosphere -- the bubble of solar wind surrounding our sun and the planets. Observations from Voyager's instruments found that the particle density was 40 times greater outside this boundary than inside, confirming that it had indeed left the heliosphere.

But so far, Voyager 1's observation of the direction of the local interstellar magnetic field is more than 40 degrees off from what other spacecraft have determined. The new study suggests this discrepancy exists because Voyager 1 is in a more distorted magnetic field just outside the heliopause, which is the boundary between the solar wind and the interstellar medium.

"If you think of the magnetic field as a rubber band stretched around a beach ball, that band is being deflected around the heliopause," Schwadron said.

In 2009, NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) discovered a "ribbon" of energetic neutral atoms that is thought to hold clues to the direction of the pristine interstellar magnetic field. The so-called "IBEX ribbon," which forms a circular arc in the sky, remains mysterious, but scientists believe it is produced by a flow of neutral hydrogen atoms from the solar wind that were re-ionized in nearby interstellar space and then picked up electrons to become neutral again.

The new study uses multiple data sets to confirm that the magnetic field direction at the center of the IBEX ribbon is the same direction as the magnetic field in the pristine interstellar medium. Observations from the NASA/ESA Ulysses and SOHO spacecraft also support the new findings.

"All of these different data sets that have been collected over the last 25 years have been pointing toward the same meeting point in the field," Schwadron said.

Over time, the study suggests, at increasing distances from the heliosphere, the magnetic field will be oriented more and more toward "true north," as defined by the IBEX ribbon. By 2025, if the field around Voyager 1 continues to steadily turn, Voyager 1 will observe the same magnetic field direction as IBEX. That would signal Voyager 1's arrival in a less distorted region of the interstellar medium.

"It's an interesting way to look at the data. It gives a prediction of how long we'll have to go before Voyager 1 is in the medium that's no longer strongly perturbed," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist, based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who was not involved in this study.

While Voyager 1 will continue delivering insights about interstellar space, its twin probe Voyager 2 is also expected to cross into the interstellar medium within the next few years. Voyager 2 will make additional observations of the magnetic field in interstellar space and help scientists refine their estimates.

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched 16 days apart in 1977. Both spacecraft flew by Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 also flew by Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 2, launched before Voyager 1, is the longest continuously operated spacecraft. Voyager 1 is the most distant object touched by human hands.

JPL, a division of Caltech, built the twin Voyager spacecraft and operates them for the Heliophysics Division within NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Written by: Elizabeth Landau

NEWS RELEASE: 2015-334

Philippines turns up heat over disputed sea but confronts formidable foe

A recent voyage in the South China Sea revealed the challenge as a flotilla of wooden fishing boats drew an armada of Chinese warships and coast guard vessels.

EN ROUTE TO SCARBOROUGH SHOAL — As several wooden fishing boats embarked from the Philippines one recent morning, more than 40 Chinese navy, coast guard and other vessels steamed toward them from the opposite direction, staging one of the biggest demonstrations of force in the contested South China Sea in over a decade.

The fishing boats were less than halfway to their destination — a ring of reefs and rocks known as Scarborough Shoal — when a Chinese coast guard ship appeared on the horizon. Those aboard the fishing boats, including Washington Post journalists, watched as the Chinese ship cut across the reflection of the setting sun. A second Chinese vessel arrived. Then a third. Before nightfall, the Philippine convoy was encircled.

The Philippines has been waging its most vigorous campaign yet to push back against China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea. After Ferdinand Marcos Jr. became president two years ago, he launched a campaign backed by the United States and other allies to resist China’s efforts at projecting military and political dominance over this strategic waterway, which is also claimed in part by six other governments .

But over the past year, the Philippine effort has also demonstrated the limits of its power. In China, the Philippines faces one of the world’s largest maritime forces, which has routinely rammed, swarmed and pounded Philippine vessels with water cannons. Manila’s drive to “establish a new status quo” in the South China Sea has been largely dismissed by Beijing, which has doubled down on its claims over the waterway, said Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Philippines claims dozens of disputed islands and maritime features such as reefs that fall within what it calls the West Philippine Sea, recently building military facilities on the contested Pag-Asa Island and deploying warships to another atoll called Sabina Shoal. Speaking at an international security conference in Singapore late last month, Marcos warned, “The lines we draw on our waters are derived not from imagination but from international law. I do not intend to yield. Filipinos do not yield.”

Nowhere in the South China Sea is the Philippine campaign — and its limits — clearer than at Scarborough Shoal, which Chinese warships seized in 2012. Scarborough sits 140 miles off the coast of the Philippines, well within what the country deems its 200-mile exclusive economic zone. But China says it has “indisputable sovereignty” over the shoal, which it calls Huangyan Dao. For a decade, Chinese ships have blocked Philippine fishermen from accessing its inner lagoon and chased away vessels that have drifted too close.

—Hong Kong

Ship traffic to Scarborough Shoal

Over the course of three days, China sent over

40 vessels to prevent a Philippine convoy of

fishing boats from reaching a shoal that

China has controlled since 2012.

Scarborough

PHILIPPINES

China is able to launch vessels

from bases it maintains in the

Paracel and Spratly islands

as well as from the mainland.

The Philippine

convoy turned

around 50 miles

from the shoal.

Note: Some vessels had their trackers turned off or did not transmit location data during this incident.

Source: SeaLight at the Gordian Knot Center

for National Security Innovation at Stanford University

Over the course of three days, China sent over 40 vessels

to prevent a Philippine convoy of fishing boats from

reaching a shoal that China has controlled since 2012.

Note: Some vessels had their trackers turned off or did not transmit location data during this incident between May 13-16.

Source: SeaLight at the Gordian Knot Center for National Security

Innovation at Stanford University

Over the course of three days, China sent over 40

vessels to prevent a Philippine convoy of fishing boats

from reaching a shoal that China has controlled

since 2012.

Source: SeaLight at the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University

Now, the Philippines is again pressing its claim to Scarborough. The Philippines is working with allies to ramp up surveillance of maritime activity, say Philippine navy officials. The Philippine coast guard and bureau of fisheries last year began regular patrols to the shoal. And last month, Philippine fishermen and activists undertook a privately organized mission to distribute supplies to other fishermen operating near Scarborough and, in doing so, assert the right of Philippine civilians to sail through these waters.

But hours before the flotilla departed May 15, aerial surveillance imagery and ship-tracking data showed scores of Chinese vessels cruising toward the shoal. Not since 2012 had there been such a show of force, said Ray Powell, an analyst at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation.

A few dozen Philippine fishermen dropped out from the voyage days before departure because of concerns their small boats would be wrecked by Chinese water cannons. But the bulk of the convoy decided to press on.

At a news conference after the Philippine flotilla had set sail, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, said Beijing planned to defend its rights. “Relevant responsibilities and consequences,” he warned, “shall be borne solely by the Philippines.”

A turning point

Scarborough had long been one of the most prized fishing grounds in the South China Sea, drawing boats from the Philippines, China, Vietnam and elsewhere. Older fishermen recall a sparkling blue lagoon with schools of fleshy mackerel tuna and coral reefs that hid a buffet of rockfish, needlefish and clams.

Trouble in the South China Sea

Over much of the past century, the Philippines laid claim to the shoal, occasionally expelling boats from other countries. The shoal served as a precious harbor for Philippine boats trying to make it home through storms and typhoons. Its proximity to Luzon, where the Philippine capital, Manila, is located, also made control over the shoal a matter of national security.

So it came not just as a shock but an embarrassment to the Philippines, say current and former officials, when, following a lengthy confrontation in 2012, the Chinese effectively took it for themselves. Trouble erupted when Philippine officials said one of their warships had caught Chinese fishermen at the shoal poaching rare animals and corals. After the Philippine navy intervened to stop the fishermen, China responded by dispatching two law enforcement vessels. The Philippines eventually withdrew its ships. But the Chinese remained.

It was a turning point in the South China Sea, said Renard Sexton, a political scientist at Emory University who studies conflict in Asia. Scarborough became a symbol of what could be gained and lost in an era of rising Chinese power. For Beijing, on the cusp of a massive military buildup at sea, it was a statement to the world that China would not back down.

After that, China stationed at least one coast guard ship at the mouth of the shoal at all times. Chinese maritime militia — government-funded ships used to establish China’s presence in disputed waters — shadowed Philippine fishing boats near the shoal and sometimes confiscated their catches. Revenue for fishermen who used to rely on Scarborough diminished so much that some quit fishing entirely, say union leaders.

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international tribunal, ruled that China had no legal claim to the shoal and could not block Philippine boats from fishing there. But China dismissed the ruling. That same year, Rodrigo Duterte was elected president of the Philippines, pursuing warmer ties with China and muting claims in the South China Sea. Already underfunded, the Philippine navy and coast guard languished under Duterte, said Jose Antonio Custodio, a Philippine military historian.

China’s grip over Scarborough had tightened sharply, say Philippine and Western security analysts, when in 2022, the Philippines elected Marcos as president. At his first nationwide address, he made clear that the Philippines would not abandon “even one square inch of territory.”

A fraught debate

Captain Jory Aguian, 38, coasted his boat, named the Paty, to a stop. It floated adrift, 90 miles from port, 50 miles shy of Scarborough.

Chinese coast guard ships had shadowed the flotilla of four Philippine boats overnight, along with a single Philippine coast guard vessel. The largest of the fishing boats was a mere 70 feet long, barely a fifth the length of the Chinese coast guard boats. Now, on board the Paty and the other fishing boats, a debate was unfolding over the radio about whether to proceed.

Inside his cabin, Aguian tapped the steering wheel anxiously. He wanted to sail on.

Aguian had never seen Scarborough. His father, a shipbuilder from the town of Subic, had told him how beautiful the shoal was. But by the time Aguian became a captain, most fishermen with midsize boats like his generally regarded it as a waste of fuel — and a hazard — to fish there, he said.

But fishermen whose boats were too small to sail far into the Pacific still consider Scarborough to be the richest fishing grounds within reach and, for nationalist reasons as well, have been reluctant to give it up. So when Aguian heard this expedition was being planned, he volunteered his boat and half his crew. He wanted to fight for the shoal.

Among the 21 people on his boat, feelings were mixed. Most of the crew, composed of fishermen in their 40s and 50s fed up with the Chinese, wanted to sail on. But a medic on board was hesitant. So was a college student who belonged to the activist group Atin Ito, which had organized the voyage. “Honestly,” said Matthew Silverio, 21, “I’m terrified.”

The Paty was the smallest of the four boats in the flotilla, a traditional Philippine outrigger only 40 feet long held together by wood, bamboo poles, rope and zip ties. If the Chinese deployed water cannons, the roof of the boat’s cabin would fly off, leaving the engine exposed, said crew members. For those on board, there’d be nowhere to hide.

And there was another consideration that only a handful on the flotilla knew about. A fifth fishing boat had earlier sailed ahead of the main flotilla and been confronted by a Chinese warship. As the boat tried to circumvent the navy vessel, a Philippine fisherman working at Scarborough Shoal sent back an urgent message, recounted Mark Figueras, an activist on board:

“Do not proceed! Do not proceed!”

Chinese ships had sailed upon the shoal in force and were chasing away every last Philippine boat, Figueras said. Even if the flotilla made it to the shoal, there’d be no one left there to receive supplies.

Slightly before 9 a.m., the radio in Aguian’s cabin crackled with a final verdict. The captain started up the engine. The boats were turning around.

Success or failure

The morning after returning to shore, organizers of the voyage celebrated it as a success. The Philippines had sent a convoy of wooden fishing boats into the West Philippine Sea, and China had responded with warships, said Rafaela David, a co-convener of the Atin Ito coalition. “It seems China is afraid,” said David.

Not everyone saw it that way. Figueras sighed and shook his head as he talked about the disappointment of altering course just 20 miles away from Scarborough. Many of the fishermen aboard the four boats, including Aguian and most of his crew, said that if it had been up to them, the flotilla would have pressed on.

The Philippines has “no teeth,” said Raul Bogs Patijdas, 58, a technician on Aguian’s boat.

“We should have gone straight to the shoal because it is ours,” said Jose Takoyan, 44, another crew member. Instead, he said, the Chinese “escorted” the Philippine boats out of their own waters. “I don’t know how China got so powerful but I know they prepared for war,” he said. “That’s what we didn’t do. We didn’t prepare for war.”

A week after the sail, ship tracking data showed at least eight Chinese vessels, including two coast guard ships, surrounding Scarborough. The Paty and the other boats were headed back out to sea to fish. But at least for now, Aguian said, none were going to Scarborough.

Regine Cabato contributed reporting from Zambales, Philippines. Map by Laris Karklis .