Considered “dead” since 2004, Voyager 1's thrusters were unexpectedly successfully restarted at the farthest distance humans have ever intervened from Earth.
Báo Khoa học và Đời sống•21/05/2025
NASA has just revived the main thruster of Voyager 1 , a spacecraft more than 25 billion kilometers from Earth. (Photo: NASA) This system was turned off in 2004 due to a power outage of the heater, forcing Voyager to use its auxiliary thrusters for 20 years. (Photo: NASA) When the boosters deteriorated and were at risk of failure, NASA was forced to risk reactivating the old boosters. (Photo: NASA Science) The plan was based on the assumption that the heater was not broken but simply disabled by an electrical circuit failure. (Photo: Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA) The engineering team deviated the ship from its guidance to activate the self-righting system, waking up the main thruster. (Photo: New Atlas) After more than 23 hours of waiting for a response, they confirmed that the system was back up and running. (Photo: TwistedSifter) This is considered an unprecedented technical feat in space history. (Photo: IFLScience) Voyager 1 continues its journey through interstellar space, maintaining its title as “ humanity’s most distant spacecraft ”. (Photo: ITC)
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