NASA’s Voyager 1 Revives Backup Thrusters Before Command Pause
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-voyager-1-revives-backup-thrusters-before-command-pause/
NASA’s Voyager 1 Revives Backup Thrusters Before Command Pause
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-voyager-1-revives-backup-thrusters-before-command-pause/
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NASA engineers managed to bring back to life Voyager 1’s roll thrusters—deemed unusable since 2004—by reactivating their heater circuits, giving the spacecraft a vital backup before its main thrusters clog. They had to finish this risky fix before the only antenna strong enough to command the probe went offline for months of upgrades.
Fun fact: neither of the Voyager probes have reaction wheels, the technology didn’t become ubiquitous until after they were launched. Both spacecraft maintain constant 24/7 3-axis stabilization using just their thrusters, and have done so more or less non-stop since 1977.