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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.
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Tuesday December 05 2017, @06:06PM
In terms of relativity, now means whatever it means from your reference frame. There is no "prime" reference frame. Now means different things depending on your reference frame.
In terms of voyager and the distances involved: just think of it as really bad display lag. like, really pretty bad. about as bad as a Sony, not quite as bad as Samsung.
In terms of Voyager 1, it fired it's thrusters when the signal was received telling it to do so. We found out about it some time later, at approximately distance/c later in voyager's frame (voyager isn't traveling at a significant fraction of c).