--- title: "NASA’s Ingenious Hack Brings Dying Voyager Probe Back Online" description: "For the first time in five months, NASA's ancient Voyager 1 spacecraft is sending back usable data — thanks to some \"inventive sleuthing.\"" date: "2024-04-23" modified: "2024-04-23" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-hack-brings-voyager-back-online" categories: - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "interstellar space" - "the digest" - "voyager 1" --- # NASA’s Ingenious Hack Brings Dying Voyager Probe Back Online ![For the first time in five months, NASA's ancient Voyager 1 spacecraft is sending back usable data — thanks to some "inventive sleuthing."]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Bon Voyage For the first time in five months, NASA's 46-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft is sending back usable data — all thanks to some "[inventive sleuthing]()" by the mission's team at the agency's Jet Propulsion Lab. The probe, which along with its twin Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to reach interstellar space, started [sending back incomprehensible code]() in November, puzzling its support team back on Earth. In March, the team [traced the issue back]() to the spacecraft's flight data subsystem (FDS), which packages scientific and engineering data before being sent back to Earth. Fortunately, the team has come up with a clever hack to bring the longest-running spacecraft back to life — a minor miracle, given its age and [long-term health prospects](). ## Software Update NASA staff discovered that a portion of the subsystem's memory wasn't working, rendering the data useless. Unfortunately, the team couldn't simply store the affected code in other parts of the memory, since the code was too large to be stored in its entirety elsewhere — after all, these systems date back to the early 1970s. So the team came up with a clever solution: they started slicing up the affected code into sections and stored them in various places across the FDS. (That's not a quick process: Voyager 1 is currently over 15 billion miles away, which means it takes a signal a total of 45 hours to make its way to the probe and back.) However, a first attempt to divvy up the affected code has already proved successful, allowing scientists to check the spacecraft's health and status for the first time in five months — yet another win that could prolong the decades-old spacecraft's life [once again](). "During the coming weeks, the team will relocate and adjust the other affected portions of the FDS software," JPL noted in its update. "These include the portions that will start returning science data." **More on Voyager 1:** *[Voyager 1 Sputters Back to Life]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()