NASA Searching For Voyager 2 After Commands Caused Spacecraft To Lose Communication With Earth: Report

Voyager 2: A series of commands tilted Voyager 2's antenna two degrees away from Earth, and as a result, the spacecraft is unable to receive commands or transmit data back to the planet.

Voyager 2: Due to Voyager 2's antenna being shifted, communication between the spacecraft and the ground antennae of NASA's Deep Space Network has been disrupted, and data can neither reach the DSN from Voyager 2, nor can data be sent to the spacecraft from Earth.  ( Image Source :NASA JPL )

NASA is searching for the Voyager 2 spacecraft after a series of commands sent last month caused the spacecraft to lose communication with Earth unintentionally. These commands tilted Voyager 2's antenna two degrees away from Earth, and as a result, the spacecraft is unable to receive commands or transmit data back to the planet, NASA said in a mission update on July 28, 2023. On July 31, NASA said that the space agency's huge dish antenna in Canberra is searching for signals from Voyager 2, The Associated Press reported. Voyager 2 is more than 19.9 billion kilometres away from Earth, and it is expected to take more than 18 hours for a signal to reach Earth from such a distance. 

Due to Voyager 2's antenna being shifted, communication between the spacecraft and the ground antennae of NASA's Deep Space Network has been disrupted, and data can neither reach the DSN from Voyager 2, nor can data be sent to the spacecraft from Earth. 

The Canberra antenna, which is a part of NASA's DSN, will send the correct command to Voyager 2's vicinity next week. 

Voyager 2 has been programmed in a way such that it can reset its orientation multiple times in a year to keep its antenna pointed towards Earth. The spacecraft will perform the next reset on October 15, 2023. NASA hopes that this will allow Earth to resume connection with Voyager 2. During the quiet period, or the time till the next reset, Voyager 2 is expected to remain on its planned trajectory, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on its website. 

Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977. 

Voyager 1, launched on September 5, 1977, is currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth, located 24 billion kilometres from our planet. 

Both Voyager 1 and 2 were designed to study the outer solar system.

In April this year, the two Voyager spacecraft helped unravel a secret that had been hiding in plain sight for 40 years. Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, Hubble, the retired Cassini probe, and the retired International Ultraviolet Explorer mission discovered a phenomenon that was never seen before in the solar system. 

Observations from these spacecraft have helped scientists find that Saturn's vast ring system is heating the gas giant's upper atmosphere, an unexpected interaction between Saturn and its rings. The discovery could provide clues for predicting if planets around other stars have glorious Saturn-like ring systems as well, according to NASA.