Miracle In Space: NASA Resurrects Voyager 1's Dead Thrusters After 21 Years
Holy cheese cows, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft that keeps on giving has achieved a remarkable feat by reviving a set of backup thrusters that had been dormant since 2004—that's 21 years! This surprising milestone—achieved by the mission team right before a command pause for radio comms upgrades—ensures the spacecraft can maintain its orientation and continue sending valuable data from interstellar space.
The Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, are currently traveling through interstellar space at approximately 35,000 mph (56,000 kph). These spacecraft rely on thrusters to make small pivots, keeping their antennas pointed towards Earth for communication. However, Voyager 1's primary roll thrusters, responsible for the spacecraft's rotational motion, stopped working in 2004 due to a power issue in their internal heaters. Since then, engineers have relied solely on the backup roll thrusters.
As the backup thrusters are experiencing a buildup of residue that could cause them to stop working as early as this fall, the mission team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) decided to reactivate the inoperative thrusters. This was a complex task that required careful planning and risk-taking. Ultimately, the team suspected that a change in the circuits controlling the heaters' power supply had flipped a switch to the wrong position. If they could flip the switch back, the heaters might work again.
Adding to the challenge, the Earth-bound antenna that sends commands to Voyager 1, Deep Space Station 43 (DSS-43) in Canberra, Australia, went offline for months of upgrades (starting May 4, 2025). DSS-43 is the only antenna with sufficient signal power to communicate with the Voyagers, so the team needed to reactivate the thrusters before this communication blackout.
The Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, are currently traveling through interstellar space at approximately 35,000 mph (56,000 kph). These spacecraft rely on thrusters to make small pivots, keeping their antennas pointed towards Earth for communication. However, Voyager 1's primary roll thrusters, responsible for the spacecraft's rotational motion, stopped working in 2004 due to a power issue in their internal heaters. Since then, engineers have relied solely on the backup roll thrusters.
As the backup thrusters are experiencing a buildup of residue that could cause them to stop working as early as this fall, the mission team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) decided to reactivate the inoperative thrusters. This was a complex task that required careful planning and risk-taking. Ultimately, the team suspected that a change in the circuits controlling the heaters' power supply had flipped a switch to the wrong position. If they could flip the switch back, the heaters might work again.
Adding to the challenge, the Earth-bound antenna that sends commands to Voyager 1, Deep Space Station 43 (DSS-43) in Canberra, Australia, went offline for months of upgrades (starting May 4, 2025). DSS-43 is the only antenna with sufficient signal power to communicate with the Voyagers, so the team needed to reactivate the thrusters before this communication blackout.
The engineers devised a solution to turn on the dormant roll thrusters and then attempt to fix and restart the heaters. The team successfully executed their commands on March 20: within 20 minutes, they observed a dramatic rise in the temperature of the thruster heaters, confirming the successful revival of the backup thrusters.
This achievement is huge for the continued operation of Voyager 1. With the backup thrusters now functional, the mission team has a contingency plan if the current thrusters fail. The Voyager spacecraft are the only ones to have ever sent back data from interstellar space, providing invaluable insights into the region beyond our solar system. Todd Barber, propulsion lead for the Voyager mission at JPL said, "these thrusters were considered dead. And that was a legitimate conclusion. It’s just that one of our engineers had this insight that maybe there was this other possible cause and it was fixable. It was yet another miracle save for Voyager.”
