Fixing Voyager: How NASA Restored Communications with Voyager 1 from Across the Solar System

After more than four and a half decades exploring our solar system and beyond, Voyager 1 has had a challenging year. In November 2023, the spacecraft suddenly and unexpectedly stopped sending scientific and engineering data back to Earth, beginning a months-long process to diagnose and problem-solve with a spacecraft billions of miles away and built on systems designed in the 1970s. Join us for a live talk to learn how the Voyager team at JPL – both current and retired – used an impressive combination of modern and past resources, detective work, trial and error, and decades of experience to solve the problem. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 and its twin Voyager 2 are the only spacecraft ever to operate outside the heliosphere and continue to provide valuable scientific data from interstellar space. Speakers: Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager, NASA JPL Dr. Linda Spilker, Voyager project scientist, NASA JPL Host: Gregory Smith, communications and education directorate, NASA JPL Co-host: Calla Cofield, media relations specialist, NASA JPL (Original Air Date: Nov. 21, 2024)