NASA engineers play space surgeon in bid to unclog Voyager 1's arteries
- Reference: 1726135210
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/09/12/voyager_power_issues/
- Source link:
The Voyagers have three sets of thrusters: two sets of attitude propulsion thrusters and one set of trajectory correction maneuver thrusters. As the mission has stretched beyond the wildest imaginations of the original engineers, the fuel lines have become clogged.
In 2002, the mission engineering team noticed that some of the fuel tubes in the attitude propulsion branch were clogging. Not a problem – the team switched to the second branch. Then that branch began to suffer the same, so the team [1]switched to the trajectory correction thrusters instead.
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The thrusters are designed to point the spacecraft's antenna to Earth. Gas produced from liquid hydrazine is used to generate pulses measured in milliseconds to gently tilt the Voyagers to the proper orientation.
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However, now the correction thruster tubes [5]are also clogged , even more than the original branches. "Where the tube opening was originally only 0.01 inches (0.25 millimeters) in diameter, the clogging has reduced it to 0.0015 inches (0.035 mm), or about half the width of a human hair," NASA said.
The clogging is caused by silicon dioxide, a byproduct that appears with age – the Voyagers are approaching half a century in space – from a rubber diaphragm in the spacecraft's fuel tank.
[6]Voyager 1 makes stellar comeback to science operations
[7]Dr Ed Stone, former director of JPL, Voyager project scientist, dies at 88
[8]Voyager 1 regains sanity after engineers patch around problematic memory
[9]NASA tries to jog Voyager 1's memory from 15 billion miles away
Switching to different thrusters would have presented no problem in decades past. Now, however, the dwindling power is presenting challenges for engineers. Over time, the Voyager team has been turning off non-essential systems, including some heaters, to eke out the electrical power a little longer.
This has worked well yet has also resulted in the spacecraft getting colder. And it means that firing the attitude thruster branches could damage them. However, the heaters for those branches were turned off for a reason, and turning them back on would further drain the remaining electrical power.
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Could one of the remaining science instruments be turned off temporarily to free up some power? No – engineers worried that the instrument would not come back online afterward.
In the end, the Voyager team turned off one of the spacecraft's main heaters for an hour to free up enough power to warm the thrusters.
It worked, but highlights how tenuous the power situation has become aboard the veteran spacecraft.
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Suzanne Dodd, Voyager's project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said: "All the decisions we will have to make going forward are going to require a lot more analysis and caution than they once did."
We asked Dr Garry Hunt, one of the original Voyager scientists for his thoughts on the latest engineering feat. He replied with one word: "Brilliant." ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2017/12/04/voyager_1_mission_extension_thanks_assmbler_code_and_thrusters_unused_since_1980/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZuMQI3Dzv1Av2o599E0VFQAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZuMQI3Dzv1Av2o599E0VFQAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZuMQI3Dzv1Av2o599E0VFQAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://science.nasa.gov/missions/voyager-program/voyager-1/voyager-1-team-accomplishes-tricky-thruster-swap/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/14/voyager_1_restored/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/13/dr_ed_stone_voyager_project/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/23/voyager_1_engineering_updates/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/15/voyager_engineers_prepare_fix/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZuMQI3Dzv1Av2o599E0VFQAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZuMQI3Dzv1Av2o599E0VFQAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Stunning engineering....
Can you imagine anything built today still working in 2071???
Re: Stunning engineering....
My Dualit toaster and kettle perhaps. But not a lot else.
Re: Stunning engineering....
Try finding a "modern" washing machine that can do more than barely survive its statutary 1 year warranty period - or washer dryer that doesn't threaten to burn your house down just being used.
There are smart people
And then there are geniuses
Re: There are smart people
Indeed! A brilliant decision and incredible result.
So if I’m right
They would have to switch off the heater, do the job, then switch the heater back on…
… all before knowing if the heater had actually gone off?
Re: So if I’m right
Well before... the spacecraft is more than a few light hours away
Re: So if I’m right
Currently about 22 hrs 49 minutes each way.
So you send a command and then wait 46 hours to get confirmation it has received it, never mind executed it.
https://theskylive.com/voyager1-info
Time to once again remind people of It's Quiter in the Twilight
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17658964/
Documentary about the aging scientists and engineers keeping these going on less than a shoestring.
This is an utterly lovely movie - inspiring, awesome and deeply moving all at the same time.
The devotion, ingenuity and sheer brilliance shown by this team of engineers is wonderful to see, and shows what humans are capable of. A great antidote to all the other stuff that’s going on in the world. Pale blue dot stuff.
Thanks for spreading the word about it, Michael!
Nothing but respect
I have a deep respect for the engineers and technicians at NASA, but one day, people, one day Voyager I is going to die.
Your continued admirable, nay, legendary, service to this bit of equipment that has already surpassed ever possible limit is no less than astonishing, but we all have to face the facts : one day, there will no more response.
Meanwhile, I bow before your dogged determination to keep things working.
You are the best, and that's an understatement.
Re: Nothing but respect
It’s not going to die, it’ll just be sleeping!
Sometime, somewhere, I’m sure some curious things will grab it and try to fire it up.
Re: Nothing but respect
The universe is kind-of large. I think the probability of some... thing finding such a tiny object in that vastness is ZERO. More likely it will collide with some piece of space debris and be reduced to atoms long before it gets anywhere near an inhabited star system. But then again, I simply don't know what lies in the direction it is traveling. I'm not from that area.
Re: Nothing but respect
Glass half empty huh? ;)
Re: Nothing but respect
"More likely it will collide with some piece of space debris and be reduced to atoms long before it gets anywhere near an inhabited star system."
As you say, space is VAST. The chances of it hitting some space debris are essentially as zero as that of it ever being picked up by some alien. In fact, even the chance of it hitting a pretty big-ass star or planet are infinitesimal, given the sparseness of the universe. My bet is it will still be travelling at the heat-death of the universe....
(or it will go around the universe's edge and start approaching the Earth from the opposite side!!!)
Re: Nothing but respect
I don't know about that. It's a long, long time till the heat death of the universe and who knows what will happen.
Maybe we'll get lucky, whatever that means.
Consider the luck that produced you and me at this time, here and now. An astoundingly long chain of accidents and coincidences culminating in a habitable planet populated by carbon-based life forms with a rudimentary form of intellegence and two of us a part of it, what are the odds of that? Probably within the same order of magnitude or two of another life-form finding our little toy after millennia compounded by millennia.
Or maybe it'll get sucked into a black hole at the center of some far off galaxy.
Or maybe it will just drift along forever.
Pretty cool, no matter how you slice it.
Far cooler than billionaires doing stunt tricks in orbit, at least for my money.
Your mileage may vary, of course.
Long term space missions
If we are ever to visit another solar system we need to learn everything we can from keeping Voyager 'alive' and functioning. All the tricks tag work, and making sure that there are as many tricks available as possible. Banning technical incompatibilities (and yes, space-suits and retiring to Earth from the ISS spring to mind), and careful design for longevity, rather than minimising financial cost.
They sure don't build them like Voyager any more, I really do wonder how much longer they can keep it running though.
We continue to learn as Voyager continues to teach...
In this lesson... Avoid rubber diaphragms in fuel systems.
Not everything from the Voyager programs is dealing with the sheer distance these spacecraft are away from earth. Keeping them operational continues to teach us the tools & techniques necessary for travel between the stars. There is still much to be learned from these amazing creations.
Someday, a millennia from now.... "Yeah, dude, you cannot use rubber lines in your fuel system. Everyone knows that. You would never make it past Pluto."
Stunning engineering....
What can one say.
A space craft built with what was essentially 1960's technology (hardware designs had to be frozen years in advance), launched in 1977 and still going in September 2024.