NASA mistakenly lost contact with record-breaking probe after major blunder
The spaceship lost contact with Nasa after its antenna was mistakenly turned the wrong way
NASA
After days of silence, Nasa has picked up a “heartbeat” signal from its Voyager 2 probe after an incorrect command was sent to the spacecraft last month.
The space agency had lost contact with Voyager 2 when flight commanders send across and mistaken order that made the probe tilt its antenna away from Earth.
As a result, the spacecraft – which has been exploring the universe since 1977 – stopped received commands or sending data.
However, on Tuesday, Nasa said they had detected a signal whilst scanning the sky.
The probe was launched in 1977
NASA
Voyager 2 is more than 12.3 billion miles from Earth, where it is hurtling at an estimated 34,390mph through interstellar space – the space between stars.
The signal would have taken around 18 hours to reach earth.
As the spacecraft is so far away from our planet, there were worries that it could take until October, when the automatic reset is due, to re-establish contact.
It has been unable to receive commands or send back data since to Nasa’s Deep Space Network - collection of giant radio antennas across the world - since July 21.
However, now that a signal has been detected, project manager Suzanne Dodd said that it meant the ship was alive and in “good health”.
Now a signal has been detected, there is hope for the probe, albeit limited.
On Monday, Nasa said it was trying to detect any stray signals from the ship via a huge dish in Australia, Canberra.
The dish blasted Voyager 2’s area with the correct command, in an attempt to make contact with the probe, said Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Whilst Nasa waits for the automatic reset on October 15 which “should enable communication to resume”, the space agency expects the probe to remain on its planned trajectory.
Vogayer 2 is familiar with the stars, having probed the skies since 1977.
It is the only spacecraft to have visited either Neptune and Uranus.
The spacecraft is the only one to have visited both Neptune and Uranus
NASA
The probe has also explored gas giants Jupiter and Saturn.
Its twin, Voyager 1, is still exploring space and currently stands at a massive 15 million miles away from Earth.
"You might have heard... Voyager 2 is taking a break from sending data until October. In the meantime, I'm out here, almost 15 billion miles (24 billion km) from Earth and doing fine! - V1", wrote Nasa on X, last week.
The probes were designed to take advantage of a rare alignment of outer planets, which occurs about every 176 years, to explore the gas giants.
Both Voyagers are to be powered down potentially as soon as 2025.
You may like
