NASA long shot re-establishes full communication with Voyager 2 probe

Simon Druker
·2 min read
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Scientists have now re-established full communication with the Voyager 2 space probe (pictured 1977), NASA confirmed in an update issued Friday night. Photo courtesy of NASA
Scientists have now re-established full communication with the Voyager 2 space probe (pictured 1977), NASA confirmed in an update issued Friday night. Photo courtesy of NASA

Aug. 5 (UPI) -- NASA scientists say they have now re-established full communication with the Voyager 2 space probe after losing contact with the pioneering spacecraft last month.

The space agency said in a mission update posted on Friday that it used a "shout" issued from its deep space antennas to re-establish a connection to Voyager 2, which is currently located in interstellar space more than 12.3 billion miles from Earth.

NASA lost contact with the probe last month after mistakenly sending it a command that caused it to shift the direction of its antenna by 2 degrees. The agency had been unable to communicate with it since then.

On Tuesday, scientists said they had detected a "heartbeat" signal from the craft.

Voyager 2 now is now operating as designed as it continues on an interstellar mission that began 46 years ago, they said.

The long-distance signal was sent to the Voyager 2 probe by the NASA Deep Space Network from the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex in Australia. Photo courtesy of Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex
The long-distance signal was sent to the Voyager 2 probe by the NASA Deep Space Network from the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex in Australia. Photo courtesy of Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex

Scientists sent the long-distance signal from the Deep Space Network facility in Canberra, Australia.

"With a one-way light time of 18.5 hours for the command to reach Voyager, it took 37 hours for mission controllers to learn whether the command worked," NASA said in its update.

An image of Neptune taken by Voyager 2 in August 1989. File Photo courtesy of NASA
An image of Neptune taken by Voyager 2 in August 1989. File Photo courtesy of NASA

"At 12:29 a.m. EDT on Aug. 4, the spacecraft began returning science and telemetry data, indicating it is operating normally and that it remains on its expected trajectory."

The move succeeded in instructing the spacecraft to reorient itself and turn its antenna back to Earth.

The twin Voyager 1 (pictured) and 2 spacecraft are interstellar space, continuing their more-than-40-year journey since their 1977 launches. File Photo courtesy of NASA
The twin Voyager 1 (pictured) and 2 spacecraft are interstellar space, continuing their more-than-40-year journey since their 1977 launches. File Photo courtesy of NASA

Had the long-shot not worked, the probe was scheduled to automatically reorient its antenna towards Earth midway through October.

Voyager is NASA's longest-running space program.

The Voyager 2 probe was launched in 1977 on a mission to explore deep space.