Voyager 2 has been out of contact with the spacecraft ever since its flight controller accidentally sent the wrong command more than a week ago, causing the spacecraft's antenna to veer away from Earth. Voyager 2's antenna shifted just 2 percent, but that was still enough to cut off contact.
The Voyager 2 spacecraft was launched into space in 1977 and has traveled 19 billion kilometers from Earth. Photo: NASA
NASA said the Deep Space Network's giant antenna in Canberra, Australia, is searching for any stray signals from Voyager 2, which is more than 12 billion miles away. It takes more than 18 hours for a signal to reach Earth from such a great distance.
Voyager 2 was launched from Florida in 1977 to study the solar system as well as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – and was sent up just weeks before its identical twin, Voyager 1. The spacecraft entered interstellar space in 2018, discovering a host of new moons on Uranus and Jupiter.
Over the next week, the Canberra antenna — part of NASA's Deep Space Network — will bombard the vicinity of Voyager 2 in the hopes that it will catch a target, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Voyager missions.
If that fails, NASA will have to wait until October to reset the spacecraft and restore communications. The automatic antenna reorientation is scheduled to occur on October 15. NASA said it believes the reorientation, designed to keep Voyager 2’s antenna pointed toward Earth, will allow communications to resume.
Voyager 2's twin brother, Voyager 1, is still communicating with Earth. It is nearly 24 billion kilometers away, making it the most distant spacecraft ever made by mankind.
Quang Anh (according to Guardian, NASA)
Source
Comment (0)