Nasa loses contact with Voyager 2 house probe after sending improper sign
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asa has obtained a sign from Voyager 2 after an error brought on the space company to lose contact with the craft for practically a fortnight.
Flight controllers despatched the improper command to the house probe practically two weeks in the past, by accident tilting its antenna away from Earth and severing contact.
After days of silence, Nasa lastly heard from Voyager 2 – which is billions of miles away in interstellar house – on Tuesday.
Nasa’s Deep Space Network, made up of big radio antennas throughout the globe, picked up a “heartbeat signal”, that means the 46-year-old craft is alive and working, challenge supervisor Suzanne Dodd stated on Tuesday.
Ms Dodd stated the news had “buoyed our spirits”.
Flight controllers on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California will now attempt to flip Voyager 2’s antenna – which is simply two per cent off-kilter – again towards Earth.
If the command doesn’t work – and controllers doubt it’s going to – they must wait till October for an automated spacecraft reset.
Ms Dodd added: “That is a long time to wait, so we’ll try sending up commands several times [before then].”
Voyager 2 rocketed into house in 1977, together with its similar twin Voyager 1, on a quest to discover the outer planets.
Still speaking and dealing tremendous, Voyager 1 is now 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometres) from Earth, making it probably the most distant spacecraft.
Voyager 2 trails its twin in interstellar house at greater than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometres) from Earth.
At that distance, it takes greater than 18 hours for a sign to journey a method.