Voyager 1 Defies Time: NASA’s Daring Thruster Swap Extends 47-Year-Old Space Odyssey
NASA Successfully Swaps Thrusters on Voyager 1 Planetary Probe
On September 10, 2024, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced a successful thruster swap on the Voyager 1 planetary probe, ensuring the continuation of its mission.
Voyager 1, launched in September 1977, is approximately 24.6 billion kilometers (about 164 astronomical units) from Earth as of September 12, 2024. The probe’s two sets of attitude control thrusters and one set of orbit control thrusters were being damaged by silicon dioxide, produced by aging rubber diaphragms used in the propellant tanks, causing a decrease in propulsion efficiency.
In 2002, the Voyager 1 attitude control thruster set began to clog, and a different set was used as a replacement. However, this set also showed signs of clogging, and since 2018, the orbit control thrusters have been used for attitude control. As of 2024, the orbit control thruster was clogged worse than the attitude control thruster used until 2018, prompting a switch to use the attitude control thruster again.
The Voyager operations team evaluated how to ensure electrical power and determined that it would be possible to ensure the necessary power by turning off one of the main heaters for up to an hour. The measures were successful, and on August 27, 2024, it was confirmed that the attitude control thrusters were functioning normally.
According to JPL’s Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager, “Every decision we make going forward will require a lot more thought and analysis than ever before.” Voyager 1 continues to take valuable observations in interstellar space alongside Voyager 2, and the team is working to keep Voyager in service for as long as possible.
Image credit: Caltech/NASA-JPL