WASHINGTON: After several months, a spacecraft floating on the edge of the solar system has finally regained contact with Earth.
NASA announced the spacecraft’s recovery on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), saying the agency’s Voyager 1 spacecraft was fully operational for the first time after months of inactivity.
“Our Voyager 1 spacecraft is conducting routine science operations for the first time since November 2023,” the post said.
All four of Voyager’s instruments (which measure plasma waves, magnetic fields and particles) are sending usable data back to Earth, the agency said.
The spacecraft’s operation was disrupted when a technical problem surfaced late last year. Voyager 1 then began sending meaningless signals to Earth, marking the end of the historic mission.
However, the mission team asked the spacecraft to send back engineering data (which included information about the spacecraft’s health and status) and the spacecraft was partially repaired in April.
