Recently, a team at JPL was responsible for communicating with the Voyager 1 spacecraft. I noticed a problem Uses data returned from the Flight Data System (FDS). Normally, the FDS is supposed to communicate with other subsystems via a communications unit (TMU), but this process appears to have broken down, resulting in payloads from scientific instruments and engineering sensors not being returned. The binary pattern is now just repeating. So far, the cause of this failure is unknown, and JPL engineers are working on potential causes and fixes.
This situation is Similar situation with Voyager 2 Back in 2010, the data returned showed a change in data patterns. At this point, the engineer breathed a sigh of relief as resetting the FDS memory resolved the data corruption issue. Looks like the fix isn’t that simple this time. Resetting his FDS on Voyager 1 did not resolve the problem, and the team had to consider other causes. What makes debugging so complicated is that each transmission to and from the spacecraft takes about 22.5 hours each way, leaving him waiting an agonizing 45 hours before receiving the results of his commands.
We wish JPL engineers the best of luck around the world, and we wish all of us the best for Voyager 1.