NASA’s Voyager 1 jumpstarts radio transmitter unused since 1981 to ‘phone home’ from 15.4 billion miles into space
NASA Space Technology The 47-year-old NASA Voyager 1 fell back on a radio transmitter it hadn’t used since 1981 to ping home base after a technical issue caused a days-long communication stall between Earth and the farthest-ever recorded spacecraft. The Voyager has been floating further and further away since its historic launch in 1977 and along with its twin craft, the Voyager 2, the pair are the only two spacecraft to operate in interstellar space, the region between stars. Together, the pair have explored Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and 48 of their moons and even carry a message from Earth on a phonograph record should they encounter any form of life in distant space, according to NASA. The Voyager 1 is the farthest spacecraft from Earth, extending far beyond even Pluto’s orbit...
