Voyager 1 continues its mission
When the Voyager 1 satellite was launched to explore the outskirts of the Solar System, no one expected that its mission would last 47 years. The device was designed for a five-year mission and no one demanded performance records from it. And yet, American engineers created an extremely unpretentious and durable unit, the performance of which has been restored more than once.
However, the years take their toll and the device gradually degrades. The atomic battery on the decay of plutonium and thermocouples for converting heat into electricity produce less and less energy. In order to maintain the operation of scientific equipment and communication systems, many auxiliary systems had to be turned off, including heaters, which may make it even more difficult to return them to work. Any switching on/off of elements can lead to failure and therefore scientists have to constantly calculate the risks, since even a harmless manipulation can be the last for the device.
One of the most serious problems in recent years has been the clogging of some of the fuel tubes of the orientation engine. Because of this, it has become difficult for the device to maintain the direction of the antenna to the Earth. The device has a total of 3 engines – two for orientation and one for correction. All of them can replace each other, and therefore, after the active phase of orbital flights, only one of them worked. Since it was impossible to clear the blockage, in 2018 a switch was made to the correction engine. However, recently signs of blockage were detected on it, and more severely than on the previously disabled engine.
Obviously, it was necessary to change the working engine again, but now this task turned out to be non-trivial. Starting the engines without preheating is dangerous and can lead to their failure. However, there is no free energy to turn on the engine heaters in the device. Therefore, it was necessary to think for a long time what to turn off in order to warm up the engine. It was decided not to touch the scientific equipment because without it the mission would lose all meaning – the device is still collecting scientific data. Therefore, they made a Solomonic decision – to turn off the main heater for an hour. If it does not turn on, the device will still be able to work for some time due to the auxiliary heaters.
However, the operation was successful: the engine was started, and the main heater was turned on again within an hour. So the flight continues. I can't help but admire the engineers who designed and serviced the Voyagers.
Author: Vladimir Gerasimenko
