NASA can no longer communicate correctly with the Voyager 2 interstellar mission. A new signal indicates that the spacecraft is still transmitting. What will happen now?
For several days, NASA had no further news from Voyager 2, its interstellar probe. Due to an erroneous command sent to the mission, the space agency had been unable to establish contact since July 21, 2023. It took several days to obtain encouraging news, but that does not solve everything.
The Deep Space Network (DSN), the telecommunications network with deep space, picked up a signal on August 1, during a sky scan. It is ” much like hearing the ‘heartbeat’ of the spaceship », NASA saidadding that ” this confirms that the spacecraft is still transmitting, which the engineers expected “. The signal is however too weak to extract data from it, specifies the space agency in its press release. However, it allows at least to verify that Voyager 2 is still functioning and following the planned trajectory.
NASA will send an order to Voyager 2, but without certainty that it will follow it
Even if this signal is good news, the problem is not solved. Due to the bad command sent by NASA to Voyager 2, the antenna of the probe which allows communication with the Earth is no longer oriented in the right direction. A slight offset of 2 degrees prevents it from transmitting its data to us and the teams from sending commands to Voyager 2. Action must therefore be taken to correct the problem. And, if that does not work, it will be necessary to wait a very long time before hoping to renew contact with Voyager 2.
What will happen now? ” Engineers will now try to send Voyager 2 a command to head for Earth », summarizes NASA. An antenna of the DSN will be used to send an “order” to Voyager 2, asking it to turn its antenna correctly towards Earth. However, there is no guarantee that this will work.
” If that doesn’t work, we’ll have to wait until October, when the spacecraft’s onboard software will automatically tell it to reset its direction.. If this maneuver fails, all that remains is to be patient for months and cross your fingers that nothing bad happens to Voyager 2.
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