'Yet another miracle save': NASA engineers complete nail-biting maneuver to resurrect Voyager 1's long-dead thrusters
SMRTR summary
Forty-six nail-biting hours after sending a signal to Voyager 1, NASA engineers received thrilling news: the spacecraft's primary thrusters, silent for two decades, had roared back to life. This "miracle save" breathes new life into the 46-year-old probe, now over 15 billion miles from Earth in interstellar space.
"It was such a glorious moment," says Todd Barber, propulsion lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "These thrusters were considered dead."
The fix came just in time. With Voyager's backup thrusters clogging and a looming communications blackout, the craft's future hung in the balance. Now, it can maintain its crucial Earth-pointing orientation until contact is reestablished next year.
As Voyager 1 continues its groundbreaking mission beyond our solar system, this resurrection of long-dormant systems showcases the ingenuity keeping this venerable explorer alive in the cosmic wilderness.
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Live Science.
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