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NASA’s Voyager 1 probe, the farthest human-made object from Earth, seems to be a little confused about what is going on in its distant location in interstellar space. 

The long-lived probe and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched on their epic space journeys in 1977 and are the first spacecraft ever to reach interstellar space, which is the great cosmic expanse beyond the dominant influence of the Sun.

But lately, Voyager 1 has been sending “invalid data” about its journey into this unexplored frontier, according to a NASA statement released on Wednesday. The glitch is affecting the probe’s attitude articulation and control system (AACS), which orients the spacecraft on its travels, and ensures that its communication antenna faces Earth. While the AACS system is correctly pointed toward Earth, it has started babbling “random” telemetry data and other gibberish about the probe being in positions that are not possible, NASA said.

“A mystery like this is sort of par for the course at this stage of the Voyager mission,” said Suzanne Dodd, project manager for Voyager 1 and 2 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in the statement. “The spacecraft are both almost 45 years old, which is far beyond what the mission planners anticipated.” 

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Illustration of Voyager 1. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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When it comes to physical activity, the equation is fairly straightforward: The more we move, the better our bodies are able to support movement. However, the converse is also true. The more sedentary we are, the stiffer and weaker we get, so the more difficult movement becomes.

“Many older adults isolate and become sedentary, which is why they have trouble walking and moving when the time comes,” explains Brittany Ferri, PhD, CPRP, an occupational therapist at Medical Solutions Barcelona. “The best way to keep your motion is by practicing, meaning walking, exercising, stretching, and doing anything that keeps you active.”

In particular, mobility exercises can be an essential component to increasing longevity and quality of life, especially for older adults. These are the moves that target the range of motion in our joints (not to be confused with flexibility, which is about increasing length in our muscles). Having greater mobility helps to prevent falls, promote balance and coordination, and maintain independence later into life by allowing us to function better in everyday activities.

How can mobility exercises improve longevity?

Mobility exercises can allow us to stay more active, which helps regulate blood pressure, improves circulation, keeps joints and muscles flexible, and assists with balance, explains Dr. Ferri. “This gives older adults more quality of life for longer.”

By helping us maintain adequate physical strength and balance, mobility exercises keep us safer and more independent, helping us “navigate [our] environment more easily and freely,” says Dr. Ferri. “This helps seniors have control over the activities they want to participate in.”

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Photo: Getty Images/The Good Brigade

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Mobility is everything, or so the fitness gurus would have you believe. But the focus on mobility and movement isn’t new. It’s as old as 1965 when a Japanese firm launched the pedometer and popularised the idea that taking 10,000 steps daily leads to better health. The company was Yamasa Clock and Instrument Company, and its pedometer was called Manpo-kei, which translates to “10,000 steps meter” in Japanese. A 2019 study on daily step count by researchers from Harvard Medical School, surmised that this is where the magic number of 10,000 steps comes from. In a separate study published in Lancet last month, researchers wrote that “Although 10,000 steps per day is widely promoted to have health benefits, there is little evidence to support this recommendation.”

For this study, published in the Lancet, researchers analyzed 15 studies that covered the health and fitness of over 47,000 people, over a period of seven years. They found that while “10,000 steps” is a myth, there are health benefits for adults who clocked more steps. Adults who walked more had a 40% to 53% lower risk of mortality. They also found that taking more steps per day was associated with a progressively lower risk of all-cause mortality but varied by age. There was progressively lower risk of mortality among adults aged 60 years and older who walked about 6,000–8,000 steps per day, and among adults younger than 60 years who walked about 8,000–10,000 steps per day.

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Should you be walking 10,000 steps everyday? (Istockphoto)

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