It all started in November 2023 when Voyager 1 stopped transmitting clear data due to a technical issue with one of its three onboard computers.

It wasn’t until April that engineers identified the problem by sending a command to the probe’s Flight Data Subsystem (FDS), which allowed them to receive the first readable message after four months of silence.

Nasa Voyager 1 repair between stars

The failure was traced back to a simple computer chip. Engineers on Earth sent commands to modify the FDS code and gradually restarted Voyager 1’s scientific instruments.

By May, two of the four instruments were sending usable data again, and after further adjustments, all instruments are now functioning normally.

However, the mission is not fully restored yet. Engineers still need to resynchronize the timing software, which is crucial for the three onboard computers to execute commands simultaneously.

Additionally, maintenance work is required on the probe’s digital recorder, which stores data from the Plasma Wave Science (PWS) instrument, to ensure it operates optimally.

Voyager 1, now more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, navigates through interstellar space, a region beyond the heliosphere—the protective bubble created by magnetic fields and solar winds. At this vast distance, each command sent takes 22.5 hours to reach the probe and another 22.5 hours to receive a response, making each operation a delicate task.