Harry Vanderspeigel (Alan Tudyk) is the titular alien foreign residents (Now streaming on Peacock) He is alone (with a few notable exceptions) on our planet. In the Season 2 episode “Radio Harry,” he attempts to send a message to his people through a transmitter we know as the interstellar rock Oumuamua, telling them not to destroy humanity for 50 years. We need a few decades of buffering between now and eradication, but it would be better to cancel it!
Speaking of strange signals from deep space, NASA scientists recently started receiving a bunch of binary gibberish from Voyager 1, and it’s still unclear why.
Voyager 1 is talking nonsense and it won’t stop
We (probably) haven’t intercepted any alien messages, but something strange is going on; here’s what we know. Both Voyager spacecraft are equipped with three onboard computers called Flight Data Systems (FDS).
Related coverage: “Oumuamua: Alien resident radio receiver isn’t alien technology, but it’s awesome!
FDS is responsible for gathering information from their respective process science instruments as well as data about the health of the process itself. It then packages all this information together and sends the package to another system called the Telemetry Modulation Unit (TMU), which sends it back to Earth. For unknown reasons, there was a problem with the switch.
The TMU transmits a repeating string of ones and zeros instead of the science and spacecraft data normally sent. This is not unusual. All information sent back by Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 is in binary form, but the binary content has no meaning. According to NASA, after ruling out other possibilities, the Voyager team determined that the source of the problem was the FDS. No word on whether other possibilities include hearing some weird alien gibberish on an alien radio band or something.
Illustration of Voyager in outer space. Photo: NASA/Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The team attempted to restart FDS by turning it off and on again, which resolved most of the technical issues on Earth, but the problem persisted when the system was turned back on. The Voyager team continues to search for a solution, but it’s no surprise that the spacecraft is aging.
Since 1977, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have been traveling through space at breakneck speeds. They visit the most distant parts of the solar system and beyond. They are the longest-running spacecraft in the history of space exploration, and they are increasingly integrated with things like duct tape, chewing gum and hope in the universe.
Related: The life and ultimate death of Voyager 1 and 2
Even Voyager’s radioactive heart is weakening, growing weaker by the day. At Voyager 1’s great distances, it cannot rely on the sun’s energy, so it uses the heat from decaying plutonium to power its systems. Even with a half-life of 88 years, the radioactive fuel has undergone significant decay over the past half century, and Voyager lost a significant amount of its electrical output.
The Voyager team is doing everything they can to get our interstellar companion back up and running, but it’s a big job. The ship was built by people who have long since retired, and the current team can’t quite call on their help. There is also a considerable lightspeed lag between Voyager and Earth.
From its interstellar vantage point, light takes nearly a day to travel this distance. So every time the team tried something, they spent 45 hours back and forth waiting for the signal to arrive and a response to be sent back.
With any luck, the Voyager team will be able to nurse our oldest and most distant space robot back to health soon. If an alien wants to leave us a message, we don’t do anything.
Maybe they want to hang out and watch Resident Alien, which is now streaming on Peacock. We have popcorn.
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