Key Takeaways
- Voyager 1 is the main focus: a very old spacecraft that stopped sending readable data in November 2023, then recovered step by step in April and May 2024.
- Deep-space missions often look “crazy” because they use hard physics: gravity assists, careful power use, and patient troubleshooting.
- A short, calm reset can help attention: time can feel fast or slow depending on what the mind is tracking.
- Venus has a day longer than its year, and Proxima Centauri is still about 4.25 light-years away—two simple facts that show how strange scale can be.
- As of January 7, 2026, BepiColombo is still on the way to Mercury, with arrival planned for November 2026.
Story & Details
A small start: “4,” then space
It begins with a simple sequence: “4.” Then a single word: space. Then a plain wish for “crazy missions of the Solar System.” The questions sharpen fast: European Space Agency? Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency? Voyager 1? And one more that matters for grounding: where is the European Space Agency based?
Calm is a clue, not just a mood
A calm state can be useful. When the mind feels blank, time can feel strange—two months can feel like two years, or the other way around. A practical trick is small and safe: change one tiny thing on purpose. Walk a different street. Try a new simple recipe. Ask three short questions, then answer them one by one. The point is not drama. The point is attention.
ESA and JAXA, named clearly
The European Space Agency (ESA) is a space agency for many European countries. ESA’s headquarters is in Paris, France (Europe), with public contact addresses listed by ESA. ESA also runs major sites such as ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany (Europe), ESTEC in Noordwijk, Netherlands (Europe), and ESRIN in Frascati, Italy (Europe).
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is Japan’s national space agency in Japan (Asia), with missions that range from rockets to asteroid work.
Voyager 1: the farthest, still talking
Voyager 1 launched on September 5, 1977, from Florida, United States (North America). It became the most distant human-made object, and it crossed into interstellar space in August 2012. It carries the Golden Record, a curated set of sounds and images meant as a message in case the spacecraft is ever found.
Then something very human happened: a machine that old began to speak in noise.
On November 14, 2023, Voyager 1 stopped sending readable science and engineering data, even though it still received commands. Engineers traced the problem to the Flight Data Subsystem, the computer that packages data before it goes through the Telemetry Modulation Unit and the radio system. The root cause was a small patch of corrupted memory—about three percent of that computer’s memory—blocking normal work.
The fix was careful, not magical. A “poke” command helped pull a memory readout. Then the team worked to move key software parts away from the damaged area.
Progress came in stages. On April 22, 2024, Voyager 1 resumed sending usable engineering health updates. On May 17, 2024, it began returning science data again from two instruments, with more calibration work planned after that.
A tiny Dutch mini-lesson that fits the mood
Two short Dutch phrases help in simple moments, especially when the head feels blank or calm.
“Ik weet het niet.”
Word-by-word: Ik = I, weet = know, het = it, niet = not.
Natural use: a plain, everyday “I do not know,” not rude, not formal.
“Rustig.”
Word-by-word: Rustig = calm/quiet.
Natural use: a short, common word. It can mean “calm” as a mood, or “take it easy,” depending on tone.
“Crazy missions” that are really smart physics
Voyager 1’s repair makes more sense when the wider map is visible. Many missions look wild because they push limits with simple rules.
Venus is a perfect scale-bender. A day on Venus is about 243 Earth days, longer than its year of about 225 Earth days. That one fact shows why “normal” intuition breaks in space.
The nearest star beyond the Sun is still far. Proxima Centauri is about 4.25 light-years away. Even the closest neighbor is not close in human terms.
Now the missions, each with a clear lesson:
A spacecraft can go very fast and still survive heat. Parker Solar Probe made a record close pass to the Sun on December 24, 2024, flying about 3.8 million miles above the Sun’s surface at about 430,000 miles per hour.
A spacecraft can fly through a narrow gap on purpose. Cassini’s Grand Finale, starting in April 2017, sent the spacecraft diving weekly through the gap between Saturn and its rings—about 1,200 miles wide—where no spacecraft had flown before.
A robot can land on a comet. ESA’s Philae touched down on Comet 67P in November 2014 as part of the Rosetta mission, after a long journey through the Solar System.
A mission can change an asteroid’s orbit on purpose. NASA’s DART impact shortened Dimorphos’ orbital period by 32 minutes and 42 seconds, a real proof-of-concept for planetary defense.
A mission can bring pieces of an asteroid home. JAXA’s Hayabusa2 collected samples from asteroid Ryugu and returned its capsule in December 2020, recovered in Australia (Oceania). NASA’s OSIRIS-REx delivered Bennu sample material to Earth on September 24, 2023.
A small helicopter can change Mars exploration. Ingenuity completed 72 flights and ended its mission in January 2024 after damage during its last flight.
A fast flyby can still deliver deep science. New Horizons flew by Pluto in July 2015 and later flew past Arrokoth in early 2019, the most distant object explored up close.
And one mission is still ahead, not finished. ESA and JAXA’s BepiColombo is en route to Mercury, with arrival planned for November 2026. As of January 7, 2026, that moment is still to come.
The quiet thread tying it all together
A calm start, a blank moment, and a single word—space—can open a clean path. The lessons repeat across missions: accept scale, trust physics, move in small steps, and treat problems as puzzles. That is how a forty-plus-year-old spacecraft can go silent, then speak again.
Conclusions
Voyager 1’s recovery is not only a space story. It is a simple model of patient work: find the broken part, read what can still be read, move the job to healthier ground, and restore one function at a time. The Solar System’s “crazy missions” follow the same pattern. They look bold on the outside, but they are built from calm thinking, strict limits, and clear physics. As January 2026 sits in the calendar, some triumphs are already behind, and some—like BepiColombo’s Mercury arrival—are still waiting ahead.
Selected References
[1] Engineers Pinpoint Cause of Voyager 1 Issue, Are Working on Solution — https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyager/2024/04/04/engineers-pinpoint-cause-of-voyager-1-issue-are-working-on-solution/
[2] NASA’s Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to Earth — https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-voyager-1-resumes-sending-engineering-updates-to-earth/
[3] Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Science Data from Two Instruments — https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyager/2024/05/22/voyager-1-resumes-sending-science-data-from-two-instruments/
[4] Voyager 1 Mission Page — https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-1/
[5] Venus Facts — https://science.nasa.gov/venus/venus-facts/
[6] The Nearest Neighbor Star (Proxima Centauri distance) — https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/features/cosmic/nearest_star_info.html
[7] ESA Headquarters (contact details) — https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Corporate_news/ESA_Headquarters
[8] About JAXA — https://global.jaxa.jp/about/
[9] BepiColombo (arrival plan) — https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo
[10] Parker Solar Probe Makes History With Closest Pass to Sun — https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasas-parker-solar-probe-makes-history-with-closest-pass-to-sun/
[11] Cassini’s Grand Finale Overview — https://science.nasa.gov/mission/cassini/grand-finale/overview/
[12] Touchdown! Rosetta’s Philae Probe Lands on Comet — https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Rosetta/Touchdown%21_Rosetta_s_Philae_probe_lands_on_comet
[13] NASA Study: Asteroid’s Orbit, Shape Changed After DART Impact — https://www.nasa.gov/missions/dart/nasa-study-asteroids-orbit-shape-changed-after-dart-impact/
[14] Asteroid Explorer “Hayabusa2” — https://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sas/hayabusa2/
[15] OSIRIS-REx Mission to Asteroid Bennu — https://science.nasa.gov/mission/osiris-rex/
[16] Ingenuity Helicopter Mission Ends — https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends/
[17] New Horizons Mission Page — https://science.nasa.gov/mission/new-horizons/
[18] NASA’s Voyager 2 Enters Interstellar Space (YouTube) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGPM58S5Njg
Appendix
Astronomical Unit (AU): A distance unit used in space. One AU is the average distance from Earth to the Sun.
BepiColombo: A joint ESA–JAXA mission to Mercury, designed to study the planet’s surface, interior, and magnetic environment.
Cassini: A NASA spacecraft that studied Saturn and its moons for many years and ended with the Grand Finale dives between Saturn and its rings.
Corona: The Sun’s outer atmosphere. It is very hot, but also very thin.
DART: NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, a mission that hit an asteroid moonlet to change its orbit as a planetary defense test.
ESA (European Space Agency): A space agency formed by many European nations, running science missions and space technology programs.
Flight Data Subsystem (FDS): One of Voyager 1’s onboard computers. It packages science and engineering information before it is sent to Earth.
Golden Record: A record carried by the Voyager spacecraft with sounds and images from Earth, intended as a message for any finders.
Heliopause: The boundary region where the Sun’s influence fades and interstellar space begins.
Heliosphere: A bubble-like region filled with solar wind and magnetic fields from the Sun.
Ingenuity: A small helicopter on Mars that proved powered flight on another planet and completed many flights beyond its original plan.
JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency): Japan’s national space agency, responsible for science missions, launch systems, and exploration projects.
Kuiper Belt: A region beyond Neptune with many icy bodies, including targets visited by New Horizons.
New Horizons: A NASA spacecraft that flew by Pluto and later explored Arrokoth, far out in the Kuiper Belt.
OSIRIS-REx: A NASA sample-return mission that brought asteroid material from Bennu back to Earth.
Parker Solar Probe: A NASA mission that flies very close to the Sun to study the corona and the solar wind.
Philae: The lander that touched down on comet 67P during ESA’s Rosetta mission.
Proxima Centauri: The nearest known star to the Sun, at about 4.25 light-years away.
Rosetta: An ESA mission that traveled with a comet and delivered the Philae lander to its surface.
RTG (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator): A power source that turns heat from radioactive decay into electricity, used on deep-space missions like Voyager and New Horizons.
Telemetry Modulation Unit (TMU): Hardware on Voyager 1 that helps format and transmit data by radio to Earth.
Venus Day: The rotation time of Venus; it is so slow that one Venus day is longer than one Venus year.
Voyager 1: A NASA spacecraft launched in 1977, now in interstellar space, and the most distant human-made object that still sends data to Earth.
My Diary - Leonardo Cardillo 