citizen science
Slightly deaf, the space probe Voyager 1 continues its mission, and let's celebrate a global movement to engage with science
Dear word explorer,
Today I’m going to discuss an inspiring movement in which technology helps people get involved in something positive — I know, revolutionary, right? A fun story about the intersection of art and science prompted me to explore this topic.
But first! Do you know that the Voyager 1 & 2 space probes launched by NASA in 1977 continue to speed along on the outer regions of our solar system?1
The Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM)'s primary goals are to characterize the outer solar system environment, search for the heliopause (the outer edge of the heliosphere), and study interstellar space, the space beyond the heliosphere. The probes achieved the first two goals, with Voyager 1 reaching the interstellar boundary in 2012, while Voyager 2 (travelling slower and in a different direction than its twin) reached it in 2018. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are the only spacecraft in history to operate outside of the heliosphere. 2
Part of the secret to their longevity was multiple redundancies (there were two probes, for instance) and each craft had three radioisotope thermoelectric ‘batteries’. Plus, John Casani, Voyager Project Manager at the time, noted: “We didn't design them to last 30 years or 40 years, we designed them not to fail.” This philosophy is the mark of a true engineer!
Incredibly, back in 2017, the NASA Voyager team on Earth successfully contacted the far distant probe and engaged the spacecraft's trajectory correction manoeuvrer (TCM) thrusters for the first time since 1980. This extended its mission until 2025, with a hope it might overshoot its pensionable years by working until 2030.
It is now 24 billion km away and still beams back data to NASA’s Deep Space Network … until recently. Back in October 2023 it began sending nonsense messages to NASA, and after some back and forth between NASA and Voyager 1 (each signal takes 23+ hours to arrive at its target) the probe went silent for five months. I suspect Voyager went into a sulk about the lack of holidays or a sensible Right to Disconnect policy.
But NASA persevered, and managed to re-engage with the probe in April this year. They diagnosed faulty code on one of its chips, and ingeniously fixed this problem remotely despite the almost two-day period it takes to send and receive messages. By June, the elder craft returned to reporting on its mission.
I bet it grumbled.
On the 16th of October a NASA command to turn on a heater triggered the fault protection system and the spacecraft’s X-band radio transmitter stopped working. I guess Voyager has become accustomed to the cold! Or perhaps it didn’t like the tone of the message and downed tools in protest. Sorry, I can’t hear you… la la la.
With such a lag between signals, and considering the age of the spacecraft, NASA opted to turn on the lower-powered S-band second radio transmitter, which had not been used since 1981.
But would it succeed and could the Deep Space Network even ‘hear’ the signal from such a distance? Yes, on both counts! Kudos to the original team who designed such a hardy and robust set of systems.
Now NASA is doing the equivalent of slowly and loudly speaking in the deaf ear of the spacecraft. Luckily, Voyager 1 remains capable of understanding the directives, although the process of turning on the higher powered transmitter without causing it to shut down again must be figured out.
Perhaps it’s a tactic by the spacecraft to ease into retirement, where it can simply enjoy the silence and glories of space without reporting back to NASA on every little particle.
Live long and prosper, Voyager!3
Back in May 2023, Daniela de Paulis, a former dancer and artist in residence at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), launched a project called A Sign in Space in collaboration with SETI, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Green Bank Observatory and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF).
De Paulis created an encoded message with a team of scientists which was transmitted to Earth via the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a spacecraft in orbit around Mars. The message was picked up by SETI’s Allen Telescope Array in California, the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, and the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station observatory in Italy.
The objective of the project is to involve the world-wide Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence community, professionals from different fields and the broader public, in the reception, decoding and interpretation of the message. This process will require global cooperation, bridging a conversation around the topics of SETI, space research and society, across multiple cultures and fields of expertise.4
Anyone across the globe could download the data and attempt to decipher it. After just 10 days, an online group of approximately 5,000 citizen scientists extracted the signal from the raw data, but the second task proved to be a much harder space nut to crack.
That wasn't achieved until the 7th of June, 2024, when Ken and Keli Chaffin, contacted de Paulis with an image of the solution. The European Space Agency (ESA) publicly announced their success on the 22nd of October:
US citizens Ken and Keli Chaffin cracked the code following their intuition and running simulations for hours and days on end. The father and daughter team discovered that the message contained movement, suggesting some sort of cellular formation and life forms. Amino acids and proteins are the building blocks of life.
What does the image mean? Well, that’s the next mystery to ponder for the gang of online puzzle sleuths who have swapped ideas and had conversations thanks to their cypher hunt.
I love the image evoked of Ken and Keli Chaffin working together for over a year on the A Sign in Space problem, testing and conferring, and following that need to solve a tricky problem.
I first encountered the idea of helping science by using our computers’ spare processing time with the SETI@Home project back in 1999. Yes, the data was swapped via modem (I do not miss those slow broadband days).
The Berkeley SETI Research Center created the public crowdsharing computing project to help the monumental job of analysing the backlog of archived radio signals, with the goal of searching for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence.
The centre shut down the SETI@Home project in 2020, but this style of crunching data for science remains a viable option if you’re interested.
For instance, there is the Are We Alone in the Universe?, Planet Hunters or Black Hole Hunters projects which are hosted on the Zooniverse, a ‘people-powered’ research platform. The Zooniverse connects professional researchers with volunteers, and they offer a spectrum of subjects that might be more to your liking. There is also Science United run by the BOINC project at UC Berkeley. In Europe, there’s the EU-Citizen.Science online platform for sharing knowledge, tools, training and resources for citizen science.
For those interested in your patch of land, iNaturalist helps you identify the plants and animals in your environment while generating data for science and conservation — this site appears to have a thriving global community of dedicated nature-observers. Why not fine-tune your attention on your walks and contribute data for research?
Most countries have specific nature survey work in which the public can participate. In Ireland, The National Biodiversity Data Centre works to generate high quality data to track changes in Ireland’s plant, animal and insect species and their habitats. People can help by contributing information to their monitoring surveys, although many of them are geared to the summer months.
A lot of these projects have an App if you want something that’s easy to use on your smart phone. Please pay attention to the fine print regarding security and privacy before you download an App, of course! I have not tried out all of these systems but I will investigate some in the future. I have previously discussed my mass-deletion of social media Apps off my phone, so I am selective about what distractions I allow. Per usual: caveat emptor.
There is a lot of talk about the division between people and how technology is ruining our lives. Once we step off the hyperbole train, it’s useful to remember that technology is a tool that can also be used to enhance our hobbies and interests and connect us to people who enjoy similar activities. It’s especially useful if it also encourages us go outside and engage with the world, and appreciate the wonder and beauty of our planet, and the staggering immensity of the greater universes.
How cool is it that most people can help further our collective understanding by picking a research project and contributing an hour or two a week!
Famously, Voyager 1 is responsible for the Pale Blue Dot photograph of Earth taken on the 14th of February 1990 at a distance of 6 billion km from the Sun. The most beautiful Valentine’s gift our planet received that year. It inspired the title of scientist Carl Sagan's 1994 book, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, in which he wrote: “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us.”
Via the NASA Voyager web site.
When it happens Voyager, I wish you a happy retirement during your long drift into the starry darkness.
From a Sign in Space web site.
I did Seti@Home too back in the day! I'll definitely look into some of these other projects (I already use iNaturalist)