All articles tagged with #deep space network
By November 2026 Voyager 1 will be about one light-day from Earth, meaning a signal traveling at light speed would take 24 hours to reach it—turning even simple commands into a multi-day process and highlighting how far the aging probe has drifted into interstellar space while still being managed from Earth.
NASA revived Voyager 1’s long-dormant primary roll thrusters in 2025 from 15 billion miles away, restoring an essential attitude-control option that keeps the high-gain antenna pointed at Earth. The thrusters had been considered dead since 2004, and firing them carried the risk of a hazardous explosion if the heaters weren’t warmed first. Because signals take about a day to reach Voyager and another to return, the team had to carefully sequence the test before a planned Deep Space Network blackout, effectively buying time as power wanes and propellant residue clogs other thrusters. The achievement highlights how a 1977 mission can outlive its expectations and continue to listen from interstellar space.
Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is now about 25 billion kilometres from Earth, so far that radio signals take more than 22 hours to reach it; it continues to send back data from interstellar space using a nuclear power source the size of a car battery. Its plutonium generators now deliver ~230 watts (down from ~470 W at launch), fading about 4 watts per year, leading NASA to progressively shut down nonessential systems to extend the mission into the 2030s. Two instruments remain active as it drifts beyond the heliopause, with signals traveling via NASA’s Deep Space Network, a faint whisper from humanity's farthest probe.
Engineers rescued Voyager 1 after months of gibberish by remotely redistributing pieces of its 46-year-old software around a failed memory chip; the fix required cross-solar-system communication delays of about 22.5 hours each way, took days to implement, and by mid-2024 the craft was again returning usable data, though aging power will eventually silence it.
NASA’s Deep Space Network suffered a major mishap at DSS-14 when an electrical fault misreported rotation caused over-rotation and damage to cabling, hydraulics, and the fire-suppress system; operators troubleshooting the limit stops bypassed safeguards, and an undocumented failure plus an inoperable hydraulic limit system amplified the damage. Repairs are estimated at $4.1–$4.6 million and could stretch to October 2028. NASA says it will tighten procedures, training, and in-house capabilities across all DSN sites to prevent a repeat.
NASA’s redacted investigation into the DSS-14 70‑meter Deep Space Network antenna assigns the multi‑million‑dollar damage ($4.1–$4.6M) to training gaps, inadequate procedures, and a culture of “personal heroics” that led staff to work outside qualifications, fatigue, and skipped tests during troubleshooting and stow attempts following an inoperable hydraulic limit system and a Juno‑link anomaly; six critical events preceded the Sept. 16 mishap, with 20 recommendations aimed at boosting technical rigor, clearer roles, and better procedures. The antenna will remain offline for an extended upgrade through Oct 2028, while DSN maintains operations using other antennas and continues to support Artemis missions, including Artemis 2.
NASA’s Deep Space Network, which nearly buckled during Artemis I, again faced heavy data demands for Artemis II but performed well thanks to upgrades (including a new data subsystem and improved coordination). The mission’s shorter duration helped ease load, while NASA plans more capacity via Lunar Exploration Ground Sites, laser communications, and other non-DSN infrastructure. About 40 missions currently use DSN, with around 40 more expected over the next decade; one 70-meter antenna at Goldstone is offline after a 2023 over-rotation accident and is slated for repair and upgrade by 2028, and NASA now requires feasibility studies before onboarding new missions.
Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, sent its last faint signal in January 2003 from about 12 billion kilometres away as its power from plutonium-238 RTGs faded; the eleven-hour transmission highlighted a graceful end to a 30-year mission, later explained as heat radiation affecting the craft’s trajectory rather than new physics, and the probe remains a silent, drifting artifact with a gold plaque honoring human exploration.
SOHO lost contact in 1998 during routine maintenance; a radar ping from the Arecibo Observatory confirmed its location and tumbling, triggering months of careful recovery to thaw frozen hydrazine, warm fuel pipes, and recharge the batteries. As sunlight on its panels improved, power returned and SOHO gradually came back online, with the episode prompting ground-procedure reforms. The mission has since become a highly productive solar observatory and prolific comet hunter, illustrating how a healthy spacecraft can be endangered by ground operations.
When Galileo’s large high-gain antenna failed to deploy in 1991, NASA and the ground team rewrote onboard and ground software, upgraded the Deep Space Network, and compressed data to squeeze its flagship science through a low-gain antenna. The workaround let Galileo return substantial science from Jupiter (arriving in 1995 and operating until 2003), including studies of its atmosphere, Io’s volcanism, and evidence supporting a subsurface ocean on Europa, albeit at data rates far lower than originally planned.
Voyager 1’s communications have grown so distant that one-way signals now take over 23 hours to reach Earth, with projections toward roughly 24 hours by late 2026. As the probe cruises outward at about 17 km/s, the data arriving on Earth corresponds to a position the spacecraft has already left, effectively making the telemetry a late snapshot from interstellar space. The milestone of one light-day (about 25.9 billion km) will be reached around November 2026, turning every command a full day to arrive and a full day for a reply. The data stream remains slim (roughly 160 bits per second), and only two instruments on Voyager 1 stay active, with power-management decisions looming as NASA relies on DSN facilities like Canberra’s DSS-43 for ground control. Voyager 2, on a different path, won’t reach this mark for years, and both probes continue to operate as the few direct data sources from beyond the heliosphere, even as power fades and operations tighten.
NASA released draft objectives for the Mars Telecommunications Network, a dedicated Mars communications and navigation orbiter funded by the 2025 budget bill. The program aims to deliver a spacecraft by end-2028 to provide up to 100 Mbps direct Earth links, navigation timing, and support for missions through 2035, with a minimum five-year operational life and compatibility with the Deep Space Network. The orbiter would focus on communications and PNT rather than science instruments; draft RFPs are forthcoming and comments are due by March 10. Eligibility is limited to companies that received NASA funding in 2024–25 for Mars Sample Return design studies, with bidders including Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, and others asserting interest in the project.
NASA’s Artemis II will carry four astronauts around the Moon with comms routed through the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network under the SCaN program; the mission will test the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (laser links) to move data faster than radio, while a ~41-minute blackout behind the Moon is managed via data compression and rapid reacquisition by DSN; NASA and partners are also pursuing a Lunar Relay and Navigation System to eliminate blackouts for Artemis III and beyond.
NASA selected 34 global volunteers—ranging from government agencies and academia to commercial partners and amateur-radio groups—to passively track the Orion spacecraft during Artemis II’s roughly 10-day mission around the Moon. Volunteers will submit data to NASA’s SCaN program to help assess tracking capabilities and build a resilient public-private ecosystem for future Moon and Mars exploration; no funds are exchanged. Artemis II will launch the SLS rocket with a four-person crew, continuing NASA’s plan to advance deep-space exploration.
NASA says the DSS-14 70-meter antenna at Goldstone is offline after last fall’s damage and will not return until May 1, with a long upgrade planned for 2026–2028; in the meantime, DSN relies on DSS-13 and a Green Bank bistatic radar setup. Artemis 2’s upcoming flight will increase DSN demand, driving infrastructure upgrades to improve resilience for future missions and ongoing planetary radar work (e.g., asteroid characterization such as Apophis).