We've updated our Privacy and Cookies Policy
We've made some important changes to our Privacy and Cookies Policy and we want you to know what this means for you and your data.
Nasa's Voyager 1 reconnects with scientists 15 billion miles away from Earth
Image source, NASA/JPL-Caltech
Nasa's Voyager 1 spacecraft is currently exploring where nothing from Earth has ever flown before.
Launched in 1977, it's now on a mission to go as far away from the solar system as possible, sending back messages about what it is finding.
Because of its incredible distance from Earth, Nasa occasionally loses touch with Voyager 1 as it moves further and further away from our planet.
Now scientists are celebrating because after days of silence the craft recently called home again thanks to a piece of kit that it hasn't used for more than forty years!
What is Voyager 1?
Image source, NASA
It was only supposed to last five years but has survived for nearly 50 and is still functional, collecting data for scientists.
In 2012, it made history as the first human-made object to leave our solar system and cross into interstellar space.
The spacecraft is currently more than 15,000,000,000 miles away from Earth!
In fact, it's so far away, that it currently takes nearly 23 hours for radio signals from Earth to reach Voyager 1.
Voyager 1 has its own time capsule - a gold record on board - which contains samples of music, photographs and human speech.
It was put on the craft in case any alien life form was ever to come across the probe.
What's happened?
Image source, NASA
Nasa revealed in October it reconnected with the Voyager 1 spacecraft after a "brief pause in communications."
The flight team had sent a command to the craft for it to turn on one of its heaters.
However, a few days later communication appeared to completely stop.
"The spacecraft typically communicates with Earth using what鈥檚 called an X-band radio transmitter," the space agency explained.
Nasa suspected that the craft might have turned off its X-band transmitter and decided to switch to a second radio transmitter called the S-band to try and make contact with Voyager 1.
Scientists weren't sure whether this plan would work, as Voyager 1 had not used it to communicate with Earth since 1981 - and the S-band transmits with a weaker signal.
However, it did - and they were able to reconnect with the ageing craft.
The team is now trying to work out what happened and to return Voyager 1 to its normal operations.