Like what are the issues they are fixing that can be fixed remotely? I just envision being able to fix a car you can’t get your hands on. How is that possible?
In: Engineering
They can’t actually repair any physical things remotely, but they can and do perform software updates to fix bugs all the time. The computers on spacecraft can stop working or get bugs just like computers on Earth.
It’s really no different than updating the software or an app on your phone. Your phone connects wireless via cell towers to the internet and downloads software updates. The only difference is that your cell phone uses weak signals over short distances, and spacecraft use strong signals over large distances.
I suspect that you’re asking about the recent fix that NASA sent to Voyager 1. What happened there is that part of the spacecraft’s computer became corrupted which caused it to stop sending meaningful data to Earth. NASA sent new code (in other words, a software update) that would allow the computer on Voyager 1 to bypass the corrupted section.
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