In a historic moment for space exploration, SYFY’s The Ark crew has embarked on the longest journey in human history to Proxima Centauri. Meanwhile, back on Earth, NASA engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) faced a different kind of challenge with the Voyager 1 spacecraft.
In November 2023, Voyager 1 started sending gibberish back to Earth, puzzling scientists and engineers alike. After months of hard work, the team at JPL finally identified the issue – a busted chip in Voyager’s flight data system was causing the communication problem.
The distance of Voyager from Earth meant that engineers had to find a remote fix for the spacecraft. Despite the light-speed delay in communication, the team successfully fixed the engineering data systems. However, work is still ongoing to fix the parts responsible for sending back science data.
If all goes according to plan, Voyager 1 will resume sending observations from interstellar space nearly 50 years after its launch. This achievement will mark a significant milestone in the history of space exploration.
Fans of deep space exploration can catch the challenges faced by the crew of The Ark on SYFY when it returns for Season 2 on Peacock. Stay tuned for more updates on this groundbreaking mission.
“Infuriatingly humble tv expert. Friendly student. Travel fanatic. Bacon fan. Unable to type with boxing gloves on.”