'Big Bang' Fix Puts Voyager Across the 'One Light-Day' Mark

An innovative solution helped resuscitate Voyager 1 after a brief loss of communications. The "Big Bang" fix swapped three units—two primary heaters and an old 8-track digital tape recorder—with three low power secondary options. The loss occurred on October 20th and lasted for 48 hours. The spacecraft is now back in contact with mission controllers. The Big Bang method was also successfully implemented to keep Voyager 2 functioning this past August.

The Voyager missions rely on Plutonium-fueled radioisotope thermoelectric generators for power. PU-238 has a half-life of just under 88 years, meaning the missions are now steadily losing power. This loss equates to about 4 watts of power each year. Voyager 1 currently utilizes a little over 200 watts of power, about enough to power an electric blanket. This has forced mission controllers to make tough choices, including turning off the Low Energy Charged Particle experiment LECP in early 2026. The swaps had to occur at the same time, as the units involved also heat the spacecraft and assure that it continues to operate in the chilly depths of deep space.

The Voyager Program’s Legacy Voyager 1 launched on September 5, 1977, actually after Voyager 2. Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980. A flyby past enigmatic Titan to get a close look on November 12, 1980 meant the mission would depart the plane of the solar system afterwards. Voyager 2 went on to pass Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. The Voyagers continue to do science as they travel through interstellar space beyond the fringes of the outer solar system. The two Voyagers are the first missions to sample the region of space beyond the heliosphere directly. The Voyagers head out beyond the bowshock of the solar system into interstellar space. The important Plasma Wave Subsystem (PWS) plus a magnetometer instrument on Voyager 1 remain active. Without the Big Bang shuffle, mission controllers would have had to make the hard decision turn off yet another crucial instrument in 2027. Voyager 1 witnesses a 'crescent Saturn'. Crossing the 'One Light Day' mark Moving at 16.9 kilometers per second relative to the Sun and the solar system, Voyager 1 will become the first human-made artifact to reach the one light-day mark this month on Wednesday, November 18th at 5:16 AM EST. That’s roughly 26 billion kilometers or 172 Astronomical Units (AU) distant. For context, the Moon and cis-lunar space marking the farthest humans have traveled to date is just over one light-second distant. NASA’s global Deep Space Network continues to monitor the ever fainter signals from the Voyager spacecraft. Controllers will likely have to contend with more signal outages in the years to come. The worldwide DSN tracks missions including one of the Voyager spacecraft. Along with the now silent Pioneers 10 and 11 and the still active New Horizons mission, Voyagers 1 and 2 are now leaving the solar system for galactic space. The upper stage Star boosters that help these missions achieve escape velocity are on their way outbound as well. The next mission escaping the solar system won’t happen for a while, though the proposed Interstellar Probe mission could one day make the trip. Voyager 1 is now outbound in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus near its border with Hercules. Congrats the intrepid and resourceful Voyager 1 team. Hopefully the mission will surpass its half-a-century birthday in space, coming right up next year.

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