NASA's Voyager 1 lost contact, possible thruster triggered backup, self-recovered
Voyager 1, NASA's legendary space probe, briefly lost contact with Earth between October 18 and October 20, 2026, but it sorted itself out before engineers even had to jump in.
A possible thruster issue appears to have triggered the backup system.
Even though Voyager is almost a light-day away, it managed to bounce back on its own and resume sending signals home.
Voyager 1 adopts 'Big bang' adjustment
Launched way back in 1977 with its twin Voyager 2, Voyager 1 has been exploring deep space for decades.
To keep running as its power fades (it loses about 4W each year), the team recently switched to lower-power instruments, a move they call the "Big Bang" adjustment.
Thanks to clever tweaks like this, Voyager 1 was hoped to keep exploring into the 2030s, still sending us discoveries from deep space.