NASA reconnects with interstellar Voyager 1 spacecraft using technology not used since 1981

NASA reconnects with interstellar Voyager 1 spacecraft using technology not used since 1981

After a brief pause in communications with Voyager 1, NASA re-established a connection with the interstellar spacecraft located more than 15 billion miles away from Earth, using a frequency not used more than forty years.

Communication between NASA and Voyager 1 has been spotty at times. In fact, the spacecraft stopped sending readable data to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Nov. 14, 2023, and it was not until April that mission controllers began receiving commands once again.

More recently, the spacecraft turned off one of its two transmitters after what engineers suspected was due to Voyager 1’s fault protection system, which autonomously responds to onboard issues.

For instance, if the spacecraft uses too much power from its supply source, fault protection will kick in to conserve power by turning off non-essential systems, NASA explained.

VOYAGER 1 DETECTS ‘HUM’ WHILE IN INTERSTELLAR SPACE: REPORT

Voyager 1 floats through blue-black space toward a distant star in this illustration provided by NASA.

This illustration provided by NASA depicts  The most distant spacecraft from Earth, Voyager 1, is seen in this NASA illustration. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California announced this week that Voyager 1s four scientific instruments are back in business after a technical problem in November. (NASA via AP, File)

The space agency said the flight team sent a command to activate one of the spacecraft’s heaters on Oct. 16. The command takes nearly 23 hours to travel from Earth to the spacecraft, and then another 23 hours for the data to travel back.

Engineers suspected Voyager 1 should have had plenty of power to operate the heather, though the fault protection system was triggered.

On Oct. 18, the team learned about the issue, because the Deep Space Network was unable to detect Voyager 1’s signal. Communication between NASA and the spacecraft occurs on the X-band radio transmitter, named for the frequency it uses.

NASA PUBLISHES NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN PHOTOS OF ‘RAVIOLI’ MOON ORBITING SATURN

NASA Voyager 1

NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is depicted in this artist’s concept traveling through interstellar space, or the space between stars, which it entered in 2012.  (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The fault protection system lowered the rate the transmitter was able to send data back to NASA, engineers determined, therefore changing the X-band signal the Deep Space Network needed to listen for.

Once the signal was located, Voyager 1 appeared to be in a stable state and the team began investigating what happened.

But on Oct. 19, communication between the team and Voyager 1 stopped again, this time entirely.

The team believed Voyager 1’s fault protection system was triggered two more times and switched to a second radio transmitter called the S-band, which uses less power.

NASA RE-ESTABLISHES COMMUNICATION WITH VOYAGER 1 INTERSTELLAR SPACECRAFT THAT WENT SILENT FOR MONTHS

NASA JPL building

The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The JPL said it will let go of 530 workers this week.  (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Voyager 1 had not used the S-band to communicate with Earth since 1981.

Engineers with the Deep Space Network were ultimately able to detect the spacecraft’s communication from the S-band. Rather than risk turning the X-band back on before finding out what caused the fault protection system to trigger, the team sent a command on Oct. 22 to confirm the S-band transmitter was working.

Now, the team is working to gather information to help them find out what happened so it can return Voyager 1 back to normal operations.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Voyager 1′s odyssey began in 1977 when the spacecraft and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched on a tour of the gas giant planets of the solar system.

After beaming back dazzling postcard views of Jupiter’s giant red spot and Saturn’s shimmering rings, Voyager 2 hopscotched to Uranus and Neptune. Meanwhile, Voyager 1 used Saturn as a gravitational slingshot to power itself past Pluto.


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Development of compact transcriptional effectors using high-throughput measurements in diverse contexts

Development of compact transcriptional effectors using high-throughput measurements in diverse contexts

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    Chemists broke a 100-year-old rule to make extremely unstable molecules

    Chemists broke a 100-year-old rule to make extremely unstable molecules


    Scientists have broken a 100-year-old chemistry rule to synthesize a class of molecules previously thought to be too unstable to form.

    The molecules in question violate Bredt’s rule, which describes where certain types of bonds can occur within a class of 3D chemical compounds. Successfully synthesizing these “anti-Bredt” molecules, as described Nov. 1 in the journal Science, could help scientists make new kinds of medicine.


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    NASA Awards Contract for Refuse and Recycling Services

    NASA Awards Contract for Refuse and Recycling Services

    NASA has awarded the Custodial and Refuse/Recycle Services contract to Ahtna Integrated Services LLC  of Anchorage, Alaska, to provide trash, waste, and recycling services at the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.

    This is a hybrid contract that includes a firm-fixed-price and an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity portion. The period of performance begins Friday, Nov. 1, with a 60-day phase-in period, followed by a one-year base period, and options to extend performance through November 2029. This contract has a maximum potential value of approximately $24 million.

    Under this contract, the company will perform basic, regularly scheduled custodial and refuse and recycling services at NASA Ames. The company will focus on health and safety, environmental compliance, sanitary cleaning, and customer service.

    For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:

    https://nasa.gov

    -end-

    Hillary Smith
    Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.                                         
    650-313-1701
    Hillary.smith@nasa.gov


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    The Tallest Mountain in the U.S. and 7 Close Contenders

    The Tallest Mountain in the U.S. and 7 Close Contenders

    mountain
    Mount Denali. Mark Newman / Getty Images

    Formerly known as Mount McKinley, the greatest of all peaks in North America brings hundreds of climbers to Denali National Park and Preserve every year to ascend its north and south peaks.

    According to the National Geographic Society, the mountain’s elevation reaches a summit of 20,310 feet (6,191 meters) above sea level. This makes Denali about two-thirds the size of Mount Everest.

    Denali National Park is nestled in southeastern Alaska, due northeast of Anchorage. Apart from its mountain range, the park is home to some of America’s wildest fauna, including grizzly bears, wolves, caribou and moose.

    Even if you don’t have the guts to climb Denali, there is a whole world of natural beauty to take in at this preserve.


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    Intel Might Give up on Dedicated Arc GPUs

    Intel Might Give up on Dedicated Arc GPUs


    Intel Might Give up on Dedicated Arc GPUs

    Intel has released one single generation of Arc GPUs, and we’ve been left wondering about what’s next. Sadly, Intel might just give up on the idea.


    Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, during the company’s Q3 2024 earnings call, talked about many of the company’s future products. He discussed Intel’s future chips, and the complexities and low margins associated with the recently launched Lunar Lake architecture, which features external nodes and LPDDR5X memory integration. This approach, he declared, is a “one-off” and will not be carried forward in future CPUs like Panther Lake and Nova Lake. Instead, Intel will revert to a more traditional design with memory off-package. This decision, according to Gelsinger, is driven by the need for volume production and cost efficiency in the PC market.


    For other products, though, the future is less clear. Further fueling speculation about Intel’s discrete GPU future, Gelsinger emphasized the company’s commitment to enhancing integrated graphics capabilities. He stated that this focus would reduce the market’s need for discrete graphics, suggesting a potential scaling back of Intel’s ambitions in the dedicated GPU space. Also notably absent from the discussion was any concrete mention of Arc Battlemage, the highly anticipated successor to the current Arc Alchemist GPUs.


    This lack of information has led to speculation that Intel might be reconsidering its commitment to the discrete GPU market. The company’s initial foray with Arc Alchemist faced challenges, including driver issues and delays. It’s possible that these hurdles, coupled with the renewed focus on integrated graphics, have prompted a strategic shift within Intel.

    While it remains unclear whether Intel will completely abandon its discrete GPU efforts, Gelsinger’s comments suggest, at the very least, that dedicated GPUs might not be a priority on Intel’s product pipeline. That’s a shame, considering AMD is also deprioritizing its efforts towards high-end GPUs, and this, together with a potential retreat of Intel from this segment, might mean NVIDIA will be the only company making high-end GPUs, with no competitors to keep it in check.

    Source: VideoCardz


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    Green farming budget freeze ‘will hit nature and wildlife work’

    Green farming budget freeze ‘will hit nature and wildlife work’

    Getty Images Two cows with blue collarsGetty Images

    Environmental groups say more money needs to be invested in the annual farm payments budget

    Environmental groups have warned that work to boost biodiversity across the UK countryside will be put at risk by the government’s decision to freeze the level of payments to farms in England.

    Farmers – already angry at changes to inheritance tax rules announced in the Budget – have been told payments from the public purse will be frozen next year.

    The Wildlife Trusts say the decision leaves a “monumental gap” between current environmental land management scheme (Elms) funding and what is needed to help farmers protect and boost wildlife and its habitats, while still producing food.

    The government said it would maintain the £2.4bn current level of farm payments in England for 2025/26, and that its commitment to farming was “steadfast”.

    James Grindal James GrindalJames Grindal

    James Grindal says the government has failed to protect smaller family farms

    One farmer told the BBC he no longer believed the government understood the pressures of producing the nation’s food and protecting the countryside.

    James Grindal, a mixed arable and livestock farmer in Leicestershire, said: “I wouldn’t think the government has any idea.

    “I think they ought to come and see the reality – the coalface of putting food on people’s plates.”

    In Wednesday’s Budget, the Chancellor announced that, while there would continue to be no inheritance tax due on combined business and agricultural assets worth less than £1m, above that there would be a 50% relief, at an effective rate of 20%, from April 2026.

    While some maintain the new policy is designed in part to cover large-scale landowners who may have invested in farmland for the tax benefit, many in farming say the £1m limit will hit small family farms hardest.

    Mr Grindal, who has two sons, aged 17 and 19, said he could be hit twice by the changes – on handing down the family farm, and if landowners sell off the land he rents.

    CLA Victoria VyvyanCLA

    Victoria Vyvyan from the CLA said the decision to freeze the farming budget would hit sustainable food production

    “I explained to my youngest son, who asked what the implications were, that if you take 20% off something every time someone dies, it’s not long before you get to nought,” he said.

    “The Chancellor said she wants to protect small farms, but she is protecting the person who made a lot of money somewhere, bought a nice house with 20, 30, 50 acres to have a few horses on.”

    Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Tim Farron said of the changes to agricultural property inheritance tax relief: “This is a family farm tax which risks ringing the death knell for local farmers and the small businesses who rely on them.”

    Conservationists and environmental groups have spoken out on the government’s plans to maintain the farming payments budget at its current annual level of £2.4bn, the majority of which goes on environmental land management schemes.

    The Wildlife Trusts said around £3.1bn was needed for environmental farming schemes in England, and that maintaining the budget at current levels was a real-terms cut.

    ‘Largest ever budget’

    Elliot Chapman-Jones, the Trusts’ head of public affairs, said: “Ultimately, there is a monumental gap between current funding and what is needed to reverse wildlife declines, clean up rivers and significantly reduce the use of chemicals on farms.”

    Tom Lancaster, land, food and farming analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank, said all the budget did was “maintain the status quo, just about keeping the show on the road for now”.

    The Country Land and Business Association’s (CLA) president Victoria Vyvyan said the decision to freeze the budget at the same level would hit hard-pressed farmers.

    She added: “It could hit sustainable food production and undermine improvements to wildlife habitats, flood management and access to nature.”

    The government said the £2.4bn farming budget for England in 2025/26 would still be the “largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery”.

    Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs Daniel Zeichner said: “Our commitment to farmers and the vital role they play to feed our nation remains steadfast.

    “That is why this government will commit to the largest ever budget directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history, enabling us to keep momentum on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector.”


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    Bronze-Age Arabia was Slow to Urbanize Compared to Mesopotamia

    Bronze-Age Arabia was Slow to Urbanize Compared to Mesopotamia


    Bronze-Age Arabia was Slow to Urbanize Compared to Mesopotamia

    The ancient world’s march toward urbanization was uneven. While Mesopotamia was sprouting city-states along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and building massive monuments like the Ziggurat of Ur (in what is now Iraq), development in Arabia appears to have been smaller, slower, and more modest, according to a report in PLOS ONE.

    Urbanization to archeologists, isn’t just about the presence of massive monuments, though. Its signposts include temples and public buildings, signs of administration and writing, and the development of crafts, and professions beyond farming.

    Understanding Ancient Arabia

    Bronze-Age Arabia has been far less studied than parts of Mesopotamia and the Levant that existed during the same period. That’s beginning to change, though. Over the past decade or so, teams have explored sites at Tayma, Qurayyah, Dadan, and others.

    “We now have a better picture of what happened in northwestern Arabia, even if it remains very partial and preliminary,” says Guillaume Charloux of the French National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, an author of the new study.


    Read More: Humans Shaped Ancient History Across 3 Ages: The Stone, Bronze, and Iron Age


    Signs Within a Bronze Age Settlement

    That picture is becoming clearer thanks to a newly described Bronze Age settlement in Arabia, the town of al-Natah in Medinah province. The town, which covered about four acres, was more than a farming settlement, but not quite a city.

    For instance, the team of archeologists found embryonic signs of trade. “Signs of circulation and exchange existed in this desert region, notably through the funerary avenues which linked the oases,” says Charloux. “But I think it may have developed mainly through agricultural production.”

    A cluster of graves shows signs that people were buried according to class. The town probably housed about 500 people, the paper’s authors estimate.


    Read More: 5 of the Most Unique and Luxurious Bronze Age Artifacts


    Filling in the Ancient Gaps

    The town — like several other similar sites in Northern Arabia — also showed signs of fortification. That indicates a degree of organization and working toward a common goal. But the need for protection remains speculative.

    “Perhaps there was a social tension, a need for security and protection of the water supply in the oases,” Charloux says.

    This latest discovery may spur more archeological activity in the area — and perhaps fill in in the blanks about how the people lived and worked there from around 2400 BCE to 1500 BCE.

    “This exploration of Arabia is far from having revealed all its secrets, and fantastic discoveries are yet to come,” says Charloux.


    Read More: Which Ancient City Is Considered the Oldest in the World?


    Article Sources

    Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:


    Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.


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