NASA has confirmed that after a pause in communications with Voyager 1 in late October, the spacecraft has regained its voice and resumed regular operations.

Voyager unexpectedly turned off its primary radio transmitter, known as its X-band, before turning on its much weaker S-band transmitter in October.

The interstellar spacecraft is currently located about 15.4 billion miles away from Earth and the S-band had not been used in over 40 years.

Communication between NASA and Voyager 1 has been spotty at times and the switch to the lower band prevented the Voyager mission team from downloading science data and information about the spacecraft’s status.

NASA RECONNECTS WITH INTERSTELLAR VOYAGER 1 SPACECRAFT USING TECHNOLOGY NOT USED IN DECADES

Earlier this month, the team was able to reactivate the X-band transmitter and resume collection of data from the four operating science instruments onboard Voyager 1.

Now that the data can be collected and communications have resumed, engineers are finishing a few remaining tasks to return Voyager 1 back to the state it was in before the issue came up. One task is to reset the system that synchronizes Voyager 1’s three onboard computers.

The S-band was activated by the spacecraft’s fault protection system when engineers activated a heater on Voyager 1. The fault protection system determined the probe did not have enough power and automatically turned off systems that were not necessary to keep the spacecraft flying in order to keep providing power to critical systems.

VOYAGER 1 DETECTS ‘HUM’ WHILE IN INTERSTELLAR SPACE: REPORT

But in the process, the probes turned off all nonessential systems except for science instruments, NASA said, turning off the X-band and activating the S-band, which uses less power.

Voyager 1 had not used the S-band to communicate with Earth since 1981.

NASA PUBLISHES NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN PHOTOS OF ‘RAVIOLI’ MOON ORBITING SATURN

Voyager 1′s odyssey began in 1977, when the spacecraft and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched on a tour of the gas giant planets of the solar system.

After beaming back dazzling postcard views of Jupiter’s giant red spot and Saturn’s shimmering rings, Voyager 2 hopscotched to Uranus and Neptune. Meanwhile, Voyager 1 used Saturn as a gravitational slingshot to power itself past Pluto.

There are 10 science instruments on each spacecraft, and according to NASA, four are currently being used to study the particles, plasma and magnetic fields in interstellar space.

Planet Earth is parting company with an asteroid that’s been tagging along as a "mini moon" for the past two months.

The harmless space rock will peel away on Monday, overcome by the stronger tug of the sun’s gravity. But it will zip closer for a quick visit in January.

NASA will use a radar antenna to observe the 33-foot asteroid then. That should deepen scientists’ understanding of the object known as 2024 PT5, quite possibly a boulder that was blasted off the moon by an impacting, crater-forming asteroid.

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER MASSIVE CAVE ON MOON THAT COULD BE USED TO SHELTER ASTRONAUTS

While not technically a moon — NASA stresses it was never captured by Earth’s gravity and fully in orbit — it’s "an interesting object" worthy of study.

The astrophysicist brothers who identified the asteroid’s "mini moon behavior," Raul and Carlos de la Fuente Marcos of Complutense University of Madrid, have collaborated with telescopes in the Canary Islands for hundreds of observations so far.

Currently more than 2 million miles away, the object is too small and faint to see without a powerful telescope. It will pass as close as 1.1 million miles of Earth in January, maintaining a safe distance before it zooms farther into the solar system while orbiting the sun, not to return until 2055. That’s almost five times farther than the moon.

First spotted in August, the asteroid began its semi jog around Earth in late September, after coming under the grips of Earth’s gravity and following a horseshoe-shaped path. 

By the time it returns next year, it will be moving too fast — more than double its speed from September — to hang around, said Raul de la Fuente Marcos.

NASA will track the asteroid for more than a week in January using the Goldstone solar system radar antenna in California’s Mojave Desert, part of the Deep Space Network.

Current data suggest that during its 2055 visit, the sun-circling asteroid will once again make a temporary and partial lap around Earth.

After a brief pause in communications with Voyager 1, NASA re-established a connection with the interstellar spacecraft located more than 15 billion miles away from Earth, using a frequency not used more than forty years.

Communication between NASA and Voyager 1 has been spotty at times. In fact, the spacecraft stopped sending readable data to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on Nov. 14, 2023, and it was not until April that mission controllers began receiving commands once again.

More recently, the spacecraft turned off one of its two transmitters after what engineers suspected was due to Voyager 1’s fault protection system, which autonomously responds to onboard issues.

For instance, if the spacecraft uses too much power from its supply source, fault protection will kick in to conserve power by turning off non-essential systems, NASA explained.

VOYAGER 1 DETECTS ‘HUM’ WHILE IN INTERSTELLAR SPACE: REPORT

The space agency said the flight team sent a command to activate one of the spacecraft’s heaters on Oct. 16. The command takes nearly 23 hours to travel from Earth to the spacecraft, and then another 23 hours for the data to travel back.

Engineers suspected Voyager 1 should have had plenty of power to operate the heather, though the fault protection system was triggered.

On Oct. 18, the team learned about the issue, because the Deep Space Network was unable to detect Voyager 1’s signal. Communication between NASA and the spacecraft occurs on the X-band radio transmitter, named for the frequency it uses.

NASA PUBLISHES NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN PHOTOS OF ‘RAVIOLI’ MOON ORBITING SATURN

The fault protection system lowered the rate the transmitter was able to send data back to NASA, engineers determined, therefore changing the X-band signal the Deep Space Network needed to listen for.

Once the signal was located, Voyager 1 appeared to be in a stable state and the team began investigating what happened.

But on Oct. 19, communication between the team and Voyager 1 stopped again, this time entirely.

The team believed Voyager 1’s fault protection system was triggered two more times and switched to a second radio transmitter called the S-band, which uses less power.

NASA RE-ESTABLISHES COMMUNICATION WITH VOYAGER 1 INTERSTELLAR SPACECRAFT THAT WENT SILENT FOR MONTHS

Voyager 1 had not used the S-band to communicate with Earth since 1981.

Engineers with the Deep Space Network were ultimately able to detect the spacecraft’s communication from the S-band. Rather than risk turning the X-band back on before finding out what caused the fault protection system to trigger, the team sent a command on Oct. 22 to confirm the S-band transmitter was working.

Now, the team is working to gather information to help them find out what happened so it can return Voyager 1 back to normal operations.

Voyager 1′s odyssey began in 1977 when the spacecraft and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched on a tour of the gas giant planets of the solar system.

After beaming back dazzling postcard views of Jupiter’s giant red spot and Saturn’s shimmering rings, Voyager 2 hopscotched to Uranus and Neptune. Meanwhile, Voyager 1 used Saturn as a gravitational slingshot to power itself past Pluto.

The Orionids meteor shower, which is considered to be one of the most beautiful showers of the year, could light up the sky with shooting stars through most of next month.

NASA said the Orionids peak during mid-October every year, and the meteors are known for their brightness and speed.

The ability to see the shooting stars depends on clear nighttime skies, as a bright waning gibbous moon moves between full and last quarter phases, outshining more faint meteors and reducing the number of meteors visible to sky-gazers.

According to NASA, some of the Orionids leave behind glowing "trains," or incandescent bits of debris in the wake of the meteor, which could last up to several minutes, and some faster meteors could also become fireballs.

NASA SPACECRAFT TO SCOUR JUPITER'S ICY MOON IN SEARCH OF LIFE-SUPPORTING CONDITIONS

The Orionids meteors are pieces of the Halley's Comet and are framed by some of the brightest stars in the night sky.

"Each time that Halley returns to the inner solar system, its nucleus sheds ice and rocky dust into space. These dust grains eventually become the Orionids in October and the Eta Aquarids in May if they collide with Earth’s atmosphere," NASA said.

At the meteor shower’s peak, which is scheduled for Monday, skywatchers could see up to 15 meteors per hour, depending on where they are in the Northern Hemisphere.

NASA RELEASES CLEAREST VIEW OF MARS, BLUE ROCKS SEEN ON LANDSCAPE

While clear skies are important, the second most crucial viewing condition is a dark sky away from light pollution.

Bill Cooke, who leads NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, suggests budding skywatchers find an area away from city lights.

"Come prepared with a blanket. Lie flat on your back and look up, taking in as much of the sky as possible," he said on NASA’s site. "In less than 30 minutes in the dark, your eyes will adapt, and you will begin to see meteors."

SPACEX LAUNCHES MISSION TO SPACE STATION THAT WILL BRING BACK STRANDED NASA ASTRONAUTS NEXT YEAR

NASA says the Orionids are viewable in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres during the hours after midnight until dawn.

While the Orionids meteor shower peak is on Oct. 21, the Orionids will be active through Nov. 22.

It takes Halley’s Comet 76 years to orbit the sun, and the last time it was visible to casual astronomers was in 1986. The comet is not expected to enter the inner solar system again until 2061, NASA said.

In less than 48 hours, SpaceX pulled off a stunning feat, conducting four launches in three states, with huge implications for the future of space exploration.

The first launch came on Sunday, with the enormous Starship rocket blasting off from the southern tip of Texas. Remarkably, the first-stage booster flew back to the launch pad, where the tower’s metal arms caught the descending 232-foot booster. 

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called it a "Big step towards making life multiplanetary." 

SPACEX LAUNCHES MISSION TO SPACE STATION THAT WILL BRING BACK STRANDED NASA ASTRONAUTS NEXT YEAR

The spacecraft continued its journey around the world, soaring more than 130 miles high before eventually landing in the Indian Ocean, piling on SpaceX’s achievements. 

Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, with 33 methane-fuel engines on the booster alone. 

The next day, a NASA spacecraft lifted off aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, bound for Jupiter and its moon Europa.  

The Europa Clipper will peer beneath the moon’s icy crust to determine whether conditions there could support life. 

Then on early Tuesday, SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 rockets – one from Florida and another in California – sending dozens of Starlink satellites into orbit. 

The first launch, from Cape Canaveral, marked SpaceX’s 100th launch of the year, with still two-and-a-half months left in 2024. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A NASA spacecraft is ready to set sail for Jupiter and its moon Europa, one of the best bets for finding life beyond Earth.

Europa Clipper will peer beneath the moon’s icy crust where an ocean is thought to be sloshing fairly close to the surface. It won’t search for life, but rather determine whether conditions there could support it. Another mission would be needed to flush out any microorganisms lurking there.

"It’s a chance for us to explore not a world that might have been habitable billions of years ago, but a world that might be habitable today — right now," said program scientist Curt Niebur.

NASA RELEASES CLEAREST VIEW OF MARS, BLUE ROCKS SEEN ON LANDSCAPE

Its massive solar panels make Clipper the biggest craft built by NASA to investigate another planet. It will take 5 1/2 years to reach Jupiter and will sneak within 16 miles of Europa's surface — considerably closer than any other spacecraft.

Liftoff is targeted for this month aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Mission cost: $5.2 billion.

One of Jupiter’s 95 known moons, Europa is almost the size of our own moon. It's encased in an ice sheet estimated to be 10 miles to 15 miles or more thick. Scientists believe this frozen crust hides an ocean that could be 80 miles or more deep. The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted what appear to be geysers erupting from the surface. Discovered by Galileo in 1610, Europa is one of the four so-called Galilean moons of Jupiter, along with Ganymede, Io and Callisto.

What type of life might Europa harbor? Besides water, organic compounds are needed for life as we know it, plus an energy source. In Europa’s case that could be thermal vents on the ocean floor. Deputy project scientist Bonnie Buratti imagines any life would be primitive like the bacterial life that originated in Earth’s deep ocean vents. "We will not know from this mission because we can’t see that deep," she said. Unlike missions to Mars where habitability is one of many questions, Clipper’s sole job is to establish whether the moon could support life in its ocean or possibly in any pockets of water in the ice.

When its solar wings and antennas are unfurled, Clipper is about the size of a basketball court — more than 100 feet end to end — and weighs nearly 13,000 pounds. The supersized solar panels are needed because of Jupiter’s distance from the sun. The main body — about the size of a camper — is packed with nine science instruments, including radar that will penetrate the ice, cameras that will map virtually the entire moon and tools to tease out the contents of Europa’s surface and tenuous atmosphere. The name hearkens to the swift sailing ships of centuries past.

The roundabout trip to Jupiter will span 1.8 billion miles. For extra oomph, the spacecraft will swing past Mars early next year and then Earth in late 2026. It arrives at Jupiter in 2030 and begins science work the next year. While orbiting Jupiter, it will cross paths with Europa 49 times. The mission ends in 2034 with a planned crash into Ganymede — Jupiter’s biggest moon and the solar system's too.

There’s more radiation around Jupiter than anywhere else in our solar system, besides the sun. Europa passes through Jupiter’s bands of radiation as it orbits the gas giant, making it especially menacing for spacecraft. That’s why Clipper’s electronics are inside a vault with dense aluminum and zinc walls. All this radiation would nix any life on Europa’s surface. But it could break down water molecules and, perhaps, release oxygen all the way down into the ocean that could possibly fuel sea life.

Earlier this year, NASA was in a panic that the spacecraft's many transistors might not withstand the intense radiation. But after months of analysis, engineers concluded the mission could proceed as planned.

NASA’s twin Pioneer spacecraft and then two Voyagers swept past Jupiter in the 1970s. The Voyagers provided the first detailed photos of Europa but from quite a distance. NASA’s Galileo spacecraft had repeated flybys of the moon during the 1990s, passing as close as 124 miles. Still in action around Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has added to Europa’s photo album. Arriving at Jupiter a year after Clipper will be the European Space Agency’s Juice spacecraft, launched last year.

Like Europa, Jupiter’s jumbo moon Ganymede is thought to host an underground ocean. But its frozen shell is much thicker — possibly 100 miles thick — making it tougher to probe the environment below. Callisto’s ice sheet may be even thicker, possibly hiding an ocean. Saturn’s moon Enceladus has geysers shooting up, but it’s much farther than Jupiter. Ditto for Saturn’s moon Titan, also suspected of having a subterranean sea. While no ocean worlds have been confirmed beyond our solar system, scientists believe they’re out there — and may even be relatively common.

Like many robotic explorers before it, Clipper bears messages from Earth. Attached to the electronics vault is a triangular metal plate. On one side is a design labeled "water words" with representations of the word for water in 104 languages. On the opposite side: a poem about the moon by U.S. poet laureate Ada Limon and a silicon chip containing the names of 2.6 million people who signed up to vicariously ride along.

NASA has released the clearest view of Mars to date, with blue rocks observed across the planet's landscape.

The images were captured by the Perseverance rover as it explores the planet.

Dark blue, jagged rocks of volcanic basalt were found on top of the dried remains of an ancient lakebed, according to the Daily Mail.

10 FUN FACTS ABOUT MARS, ALSO KNOWN AS THE RED PLANET

NASA found the boulders on what has been dubbed "Mount Washburn," a rocky field on the Jezero crater, where an ancient lake is believed to have been located billions of years ago.

The name "Mount Washburn" was given to the field of rocks in honor of a mountain in Yellowstone National Park.

SPACEX LAUNCHES MISSION TO SPACE STATION THAT WILL BRING BACK STRANDED NASA ASTRONAUTS NEXT YEAR

The rover came upon a white-striped rock within the field of blue boulders. The Perseverance science team nicknamed the light-toned boulder with dark speckles "Atoko Point."

While the blue rocks are primarily volcanic basalt, which is typical of Martian terrain, NASA concluded that "Atoko Point" is made of anorthosite-a silica-rich volcanic rock, which has never been documented on Mars.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

This rock type had been theorized to exist but never seen on the Martian landscape, according to Marca.

"Are there other rocks like this near the Jezero Crater rim? I'm on my way to find out," the Perseverance rover's X account said.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is monitoring a "potentially hazardous" asteroid that is moving past Earth on Tuesday.

NASA told Fox News Digital that the rocky object, which has been named 2024 ON, is 350 meters long by 180 meters wide, which roughly equals 1,150 feet by 590 feet – larger than previous estimates. 

NASA has deemed the asteroid "stadium-sized" and reported it was 621,000 miles away from Earth on Tuesday morning, which is considered relatively close. Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Fox News Digital that an asteroid of this size coming this close to Earth only happens every five to ten years.

Farnocchia, who works at the laboratory's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, said that the last time a large meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere was in Russia in 2013. Earth has not been hit by a meteor of 2024 ON's size since prehistoric times. 

FLASHBACK: STUDY SAYS ASTEROID THAT KILLED THE DINOSAURS ALSO CAUSED A GLOBAL TSUNAMI 

Although the asteroid is close enough to Earth to be deemed a "potentially hazardous object," Farnocchia said there is no chance the asteroid will hit Earth. The asteroid would need to be within a couple of hundred miles to be a concern.

"We actually check [about the possibility of collision], not just for the immediate future, but also for the next hundred years," the engineer explained. "And there is no possibility of collision in the next hundred years."

The asteroid is one of five that will pass by Earth over the next two days, but the other rocky objects will not come nearly as close as 2024 ON. The four asteroids will be between 1.1 to 3.9 million miles away from Earth, and three of the asteroids measure roughly 51 feet in diameter, which is the size of a house.

NEWLY DISCOVERED DINOSAUR SPECIES IS ONLY GREEN FOSSIL EVER GOUND, TO BE DISPLAYED IN LOS ANGELES

One of the asteroids, named 2013 FW13, measures around 510 feet in diameter and will pass by Earth on Wednesday.

NASA's Asteroid Watch Dashboard tracks "asteroids and comets that will make relatively close approaches to Earth." According to a data table, 2024 ON was traveling at around 8.8 kilometers per second on Tuesday morning, which is nearly 20,000 miles per hour.

"The dashboard displays the date of closest approach, approximate object diameter, relative size and distance from Earth for each encounter," the organization's website explains.

"The dashboard displays the next five Earth approaches to within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million kilometers or 19.5 times the distance to the moon); an object larger than about 150 meters that can approach the Earth to within this distance is termed a potentially hazardous object."

Boeing's Starliner spacecraft touched down on Earth early Saturday morning, with two test pilots left behind in space until next year over NASA's concerns that their return was too risky.

Starliner parachuted into New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range six hours after leaving the International Space Station, landing at 12:01 a.m. ET.

"I am extremely proud of the work our collective team put into this entire flight test, and we are pleased to see Starliner’s safe return," Ken Bowersox, associate administrator of Space Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.

"Even though it was necessary to return the spacecraft uncrewed, NASA and Boeing learned an incredible amount about Starliner in the most extreme environment possible," he added. "NASA looks forward to our continued work with the Boeing team to proceed toward certification of Starliner for crew rotation missions to the space station."

BOEING STARLINER UNDOCKS FROM SPACE STATION, HEADS BACK TO EARTH UNMANNED AS CREW STAYS BEHIND

This comes after the June launch of Boeing's long-delayed crew debut and a mission plagued by thruster failures and helium leaks. The return of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams was in question for months as engineers struggled to understand what was wrong with the spacecraft.

Boeing claimed after extensive testing that Starliner was safe to bring the crew home, but NASA disagreed and instead tapped SpaceX to fly them back to Earth. The SpaceX spacecraft will not launch until the end of this month, so they will remain in space until February.

Wilmore and Williams were initially scheduled to have flown Starliner back to Earth by mid-June, a week after it was launched. However, the flight to the space station faced issues over thruster trouble and helium loss, leading NASA to determine it was too risky to bring them home on Starliner.

After receiving new software updates, the fully automated capsule departed with the crew's blue spacesuits and some old station equipment.

Starliner's crew demo concluded a series of delays and setbacks for the spacecraft. 

After the space shuttles retired more than a decade ago, NASA hired Boeing and SpaceX for orbital taxi service. But Boeing faced many problems on its first test flight without a crew in 2019, so it had to try again. The do-over three years later revealed even more issues, and it cost more than $1 billion to complete the needed repairs.

SpaceX's crew ferry flight later this month will be the 10th it has done for NASA since 2020. The Dragon capsule will launch on the half-year expedition with only two astronauts, since two seats are needed to bring Wilmore and Williams back home.

Even prior to launch in early June from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Starliner’s propulsion system was leaking helium. The leak was small and believed to be isolated, but four more were discovered after liftoff. Five thrusters then failed and while four of them were recovered, the problems gave NASA concerns about whether more malfunctions might cause problems with the capsule's descent from orbit.

Boeing conducted numerous thruster tests in space and on the ground over the summer, and believed its spacecraft could safely bring the astronauts back. NASA, however, remained skeptical over the thruster issues and tasked SpaceX with their return.

Flight controllers conducted more test firings of the capsule’s thrusters after undocking, with one failing to ignite. Engineers believe the thrusters become hotter the more they are fired, causing protective seals to swell and obstruct the flow of propellant. None of the parts will be able to be examined, as the section holding the thrusters was tossed just before reentry.

NASA ASTRONAUT SAYS STARLINER CREW LIKELY TO CHANGE EXERCISE ROUTINE DURING EXTENDED ISS STAY

Starliner will be moved back to NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

"I want to recognize the work the Starliner teams did to ensure a successful and safe undocking, deorbit, re-entry and landing," Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of Boeing's Commercial Crew Program, said in a statement. "We will review the data and determine the next steps for the program."

NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said earlier this week that the space agency still wants to have two competing U.S. companies transporting astronauts into space. NASA hopes SpaceX and Boeing can take turns launching crews until the space station is abandoned in 2030 ahead of its fiery reentry.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"We are excited to have Starliner home safely. This was an important test flight for NASA in setting us up for future missions on the Starliner system," Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said in a statement after Starliner returned to Earth. "There was a lot of valuable learning that will enable our long-term success. I want to commend the entire team for their hard work and dedication over the past three months."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The mystery behind a "strange noise" that a NASA astronaut heard coming from the Boeing Starliner spacecraft while aboard the International Space Station has been solved, the space agency said Monday.

Astronaut Butch Wilmore first reported the pulsating sound coming from a speaker inside the spacecraft to Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday, just days before it was set to leave the station and return to Earth on autopilot.

NASA said in a statement on social media that the pulsing sound from the speaker has since stopped and determined the feedback was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner.

"The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback," NASA said. "The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system. The speaker feedback Wilmore reported has no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station no earlier than Friday, Sept. 6."

NASA ASTRONAUT STUCK IN SPACE REPORTS ‘STRANGE NOISES’ FROM TROUBLED STARLINER CAPSULE

The mystery of the pulsating sound comes as Starliner is slated to undock from the space station empty and attempt to return on autopilot with a touchdown in the New Mexico desert. 

Wilmore and astronaut Suni Williams, who have been stuck on the space station since June, are expected to remain in space until February after NASA decided it was too risky to bring the seasoned pilots back to Earth aboard Starliner. The current plan is to bring the astronauts back in a SpaceX capsule.

NASA PLANS TO SEND 2 ASTRONAUTS INSTEAD OF 3 TO ISS SO PAIR STRANDED BY TROUBLED BOEING STARLINER CAN RETURN

The astronauts were originally slated for a weeklong trip, but the mission has been mired in problems after thruster failures and helium leaks.

Boeing had counted on Starliner’s first crew trip to revive the troubled spacecraft program after years of delays and ballooning costs. The company had insisted Starliner was safe based on recent thruster tests in both space and on the ground.

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.