Voyager 1 Thrusters Ignite After 21 Years: How Long-Distance Servicing Revived the Historic Spacecraft

NASA engineers have pulled off an impressive achievement: they’ve fixed Voyager 1’s thrusters, nearly 25 billion kilometers away from Earth. This spacecraft has been exploring space since September 5, 1977, and is now the farthest human-made object from home.

Voyager 1 has already completed its initial mission of studying the gas giants. However, many of its systems have been turned off over the years—some because they were no longer needed, while others failed. It’s particularly crucial for the spacecraft to keep its antenna aimed at Earth, which is where the revived thrusters come in. These backup thrusters will help maintain communication, especially since the main ones might fail this fall due to residue buildup.

Back in 2004, the main thrusters encountered problems when two internal heaters lost power. The team then accepted that the main thrusters were out of commission but relied on the backup thrusters. “They probably didn’t think the Voyagers would keep going for another 20 years,” said Kareem Badaruddin, the Voyager mission manager.

This summer, a communication break is scheduled from May 4 to February 2026 to upgrade Deep Space Station 43. Located in Australia, this station is crucial for communicating with Voyager, now in interstellar space. To prepare, the team looked again at the main thruster problems and considered the possibility of a circuit disturbance being fixable.

Reviving the old thrusters was risky. They had to carefully coordinate the activation of dormant systems to avoid the chance of an explosion if the thrusters fired at the wrong time. It took over 23 hours for signals to travel back and forth from Earth, but they executed the maneuver successfully.

Todd Barber, the propulsion lead, described the moment they got the thrusters working again as a “glorious moment.” It raised team morale significantly. This revival is not only a technical win but also a testament to the ingenuity and never-give-up spirit of the Voyager team.

Recent data shows that Voyager 1 is still sending back valuable insights from beyond our solar system, helping scientists understand the boundaries of our cosmic neighborhood. As of now, even after more than four decades in space, Voyager continues to be a beacon of human exploration and curiosity.

For further reading on the status and findings of the Voyager missions, you can check out NASA’s Deep Space Network for more information.

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