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NASA reestablishes communication with Voyager 2
 Voyager 2 continues its unimpeded journey 05.Aug.23 7:42 AM By Abigail Richards Photo NASA |
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NASA has reestablished contact with Voyager 2, the space probe located 19.9 billion kilometers away from Earth. The contact with Voyager 2, launched in 1977, was temporarily lost due to an error by mission control. The contact was accidentally lost last month when mission control issued the wrong command, causing the spacecraft to turn away from Earth. The mission control successfully instructed the probe to realign itself towards Earth. NASA received the correct measurements back on Friday, as reported by the space agency. It took some time to confirm that the issue was resolved, as NASA's command took 18.5 hours to reach Voyager 2, and the signals sent back by the probe took an additional 18.5 hours to be received. Earlier this week, mission control had already received a sign of life. Antennas picked up a faint signal, providing reassurance to the mission control that Voyager 2 was still functioning. If this solution had not worked, mission control would have had to wait until October. At that time, Voyager would automatically orient itself and realign its antennas towards Earth. Voyager 2 was launched in August 1977. By the end of 2018, it left our solar system and entered the endless space between stars, known as interstellar medium. It continues its unimpeded journey, traveling at a speed of over 55,000 kilometers per hour. In about 300,000 years, Voyager 2 will approach Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, but it will no longer be operational by then. Its twin spacecraft, Voyager 1, is slightly farther away, at approximately 24 billion kilometers from Earth. Voyager 1 is also still functioning. It left our solar system in 2012, becoming the first human-made object to do so. | |
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