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posted by martyb on Tuesday December 05 2017, @04:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the ping-time:-7.04E7-ms dept.

NASA has used Voyager 1's trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) thrusters in place of its attitude control thrusters. The move could extend the amount of time NASA can communicate with Voyager 1 by two to three years:

NASA scientists needed to reorient the 40-year-old Voyager 1 -- the space agency's farthest spacecraft -- so its antenna would point toward Earth, 13 billion miles away. But the "attitude control thrusters," the first option to make the spacecraft turn in space, have been wearing out.

So NASA searched for a Plan B, eventually deciding to try using four "trajectory correction maneuver" (TCM) thrusters, located on the back side of Voyager 1. But those thrusters had not been used in 37 years. NASA wasn't sure they'd work.

Tuesday, engineers fired up the thrusters and waited eagerly to find out whether the plan was successful. They got their answer 19 hours and 35 minutes later, the time it took for the results to reach Earth: The set of four thrusters worked perfectly. The spacecraft turned and the mood at NASA shifted to jubilation.

Also at Space.com.


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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 05 2017, @07:20AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 05 2017, @07:20AM (#605531)

    That violates the EULA.

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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by maxwell demon on Tuesday December 05 2017, @08:34AM (1 child)

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Tuesday December 05 2017, @08:34AM (#605549) Journal

    Right. Let's send an army of lawyers to Voyager 1!

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    • (Score: 4, Touché) by Shimitar on Tuesday December 05 2017, @09:34AM

      by Shimitar (4208) on Tuesday December 05 2017, @09:34AM (#605562) Homepage

      Please, not an army... SEND THEM ALL!!

      --
      Coding is an art. No, java is not coding. Yes, i am biased, i know, sorry if this bothers you.
  • (Score: 2) by ledow on Tuesday December 05 2017, @09:54AM

    by ledow (5567) on Tuesday December 05 2017, @09:54AM (#605564) Homepage

    Luckily, I don't think they pay by annually-recurring licence.