2023-08-01 12:45:52
NASA’s Voyager 2 space probe left Earth in 1977. It visited the planets Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981, Uranus in 1986, and Neptune in 1989. Finally, it reached interstellar space in 2018, and has been exploring the interstellar medium ever since. .
A series of commands sent to the spacecraft on July 21 inadvertently caused the antenna to point to 2 degrees from Earth. As a result, Voyager 2 is currently unable to receive commands or send data back to Earth.
Voyager 2 is more than 18 light-hours from Earth, and this change in antenna orientation has disrupted communication between Voyager 2 and NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) ground antennas. The data that the spacecraft sends no longer reaches the DSN and the spacecraft does not receive the orders from the Mission Control Center.
Voyager 2 is programmed to reset its antenna orientation several times a year, in order to keep that antenna pointed at Earth with maximum precision. The spacecraft will carry out the next antenna repositioning on October 15. This operation should allow communication to resume.
The mission team hopes that during the blackout period, Voyager 2 will remain on its intended trajectory.
The Voyager 2 space probe is currently flying through interstellar space. (Illustration: NASA JPL/Caltech)
The “twin sister” of this probe, Voyager 1, continues to function normally. It also left Earth in 1977. Its planetary exploration mission focused only on visiting Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980, though it left the solar system early, reaching interstellar space in 2012. The spacecraft is now within one light-day of the earth.
The trajectories of these two ships take them on an endless journey through the galaxy. Both Voyager spacecraft are prepared to serve as humanity’s ambassadors to a possible extraterrestrial civilization they encounter. They will continue to carry out this final mission after the depletion of their energy. Both carry on board a repository with messages and information about human civilization intended for any intelligent alien who finds them. To overcome the language barrier, the designers of this kind of time capsule resorted to mathematics, which is the same in all corners of the universe. The symbols represented on the outside should be understandable by any intelligent enough being. (Source: NCYT from Amazings)
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