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NASA Reaches Voyager 2 With a Last-Ditch ‘Shout’ Across the Void

After an erroneous command sent the spacecraft’s antenna askew, mission specialists hatched a plan to point it back toward Earth.

An aerial view looking down on a large white deep space antenna and a facility in a hilly area with several other large radio antennas.

By Katrina Miller

It took an interstellar “shout” across the solar system. But NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Friday that it re-established full communications with Voyager 2, an aging probe exploring the outer edges of the solar system.

“After two weeks of not hearing anything, we’re back to getting unique data from the interstellar medium,” said Linda Spilker, a planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the lead mission scientist for Voyager 2.

The space agency lost contact with Voyager 2 on July 21 when the mission team accidentally sent a command that pushed the spacecraft’s antenna two degrees away from Earth. On Tuesday morning, officials from the Deep Space Network, a worldwide system of radio dishes NASA uses to communicate with various space probes, detected a carrier signal known as a heartbeat from Voyager 2. It was too faint to extract any data, but enough to confirm that the mission was still operating.

Nonetheless, being able to pick up only the heartbeat “was upsetting and worrisome,” said Suzanne Dodd, the project manager for Voyager 2.

The mission team hatched a plan to send a command on Wednesday reorienting Voyager 2’s antenna back to Earth, using a Deep Space Network radio dish in Canberra, Australia.

The chances of success were slim, according to a spokeswoman at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It took 37 hours to know whether the attempt was successful — 18.5 hours for the signal to make it to Voyager 2, and another 18.5 for the data to return.

Ms. Dodd said the waiting period “was pretty nervewracking. You don’t sleep well.”

Scientists, engineers and the flight team were “waiting on pins and needles to hear back from Voyager 2, to see if the command was successful,” Dr. Spilker said. “It was all hands on deck.”

But it worked: On Friday at 12:29 a.m. Eastern time, Voyager 2 began transmitting science data once again. Scientists also confirmed that the probe remained on its original path.

According to Dr. Spilker, mission control in California reacted to the good news with a lot of high fives, tears and sighs of relief.

Voyager 2 launched to space on Aug. 20, 1977, to fly by the solar system’s outer planets and then explore the interstellar space that lies beyond it. The nearly 46-year-old probe is currently more than 12.5 billion miles away from Earth and is collecting data on the distant region of space for scientists to study. Its twin, Voyager 1, was launched weeks after Voyager 2 and became the first to cross the solar system’s boundary.

Had it not established contact, the mission team would have had to wait until Oct. 15, when Voyager 2 is programmed to do an automatic reset of the direction of its antenna.

But it no longer needs to wait, and the mission has resumed data transmissions from beyond the solar system’s heliosphere.

“We did an assessment and the spacecraft looks very healthy, very normal,” Ms. Dodd said. The mission team will continue to run tests to fully understand the status of the spacecraft before resuming regular activity.

Ms. Dodd looks forward to celebrating the probe’s launch anniversary later this month. “Both of these spacecraft are truly remarkable in their longevity,” she said, referring to Voyager 2 and Voyager 1. “They’re like the spacecraft with nine lives.”

Katrina Miller is a science reporting fellow for The Times. She recently earned her Ph.D. in particle physics from the University of Chicago. More about Katrina Miller

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NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

In this Aug. 4, 1977, photo provided by NASA, the "Sounds of Earth" record is mounted on the Voyager 2 spacecraft in the Safe-1 Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. On Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, NASA's Deep Space Network sent a command to correct a problem with its antenna. It took more than 18 hours for the signal to reach Voyager 2 _ more than 12 billion miles away _ and another 18 hours to hear back. On Friday, Aug. 4, the spacecraft started returning data again.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

Hurtling ever deeper into interstellar space billions of miles away, Voyager 2 stopped communicating two weeks ago. Controllers sent the wrong command to the 46-year-old spacecraft and tilted its antenna away from Earth.

On Wednesday, NASA’s Deep Space Network sent a new command in hopes of repointing the antenna, using the highest powered transmitter at the huge radio dish antenna in Australia. Voyager 2’s antenna needed to be shifted a mere 2 degrees.

(FILES) This 1977 NASA file image obtained 29 August 2002 shows a gold aluminum cover that was designed to protect the Voyager 1 and 2 "Sounds of Earth" gold-plated records from micrometeorite bombardment, but also serves a double purpose in providing the finder a key to playing the record. NASA's Voyager 2 probe has signaled it is in "good health" after mission control mistakenly cut contact for several days, the space agency said in its latest update. Launched in 1977 as a beacon from humanity to the wider Universe, it is currently more than 12.3 billion miles (19.9 billion kilometers) from our planet, exploring interstellar space along with its twin, Voyager 1. A series of planned commands sent to Voyager 2 on July 21, 2023, "inadvertently caused the antenna to point two degrees away from Earth," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said in a recent update.

It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 — more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away — and another 18 hours to hear back.

The long shot paid off. On Friday, the spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair,” project manager Suzanne Dodd told The Associated Press.

“Voyager’s back,” project scientist Linda Spilker chimed in.

Voyager 2 has been hurtling through space since its launch in 1977 to explore the outer solar system. Launched two weeks later, its twin, Voyager 1, is now the most distant spacecraft — 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away — and still in contact.

The two-week outage was believed to be the longest NASA had gone without hearing from Voyager 2, Dodd said.

As long as their plutonium power holds, the Voyagers may be alive and well for the 50th anniversary of their launch in 2027, according to Dodd. Among the scientific tidbits they’ve beamed back in recent years include details about the interstellar magnetic field and the abundance of cosmic rays.

“We’ve been very clever over the last 10 years to eke out every single little watt,” Dodd said. “Hopefully, one of them will make it to 50. But they are old and certainly events like this one that just happened scare the dickens out of me, as far as making that type of a milestone.”

The Associated Press

A 'shout' across interstellar space restores contact between Voyager 2 craft and NASA

After weeks of giving Earth the silent treatment , NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft is once again communicating with mission control from billions of miles away.

All it took was for the ground team to send an interstellar "shout" across more than 12.3 billion miles instructing the historic probe launched in the 1970s to explore the far reaches of space to turn its antenna back to Earth.

Easy enough, right? Not so much.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory wasn't even confident the command would be capable of reaching the wayward probe across the expansive solar system. Failure meant that the space agency would have been waiting until mid-October for Voyager 2 to automatically reorient itself after NASA lost contact with the 46-year-old spacecraft last month.

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The array of giant radio network antennas known as the Deep Space Network detected a faint signal last week from Voyager 2, which on July 21 had inadvertently tilted its antenna a mere 2 degrees away from Earth. Though the signal was not strong enough for any data to be extracted, the faint "heartbeat" was enough to give NASA hope that the spacecraft was still operational.

In a Hail Mary effort, a Deep Space Network radio dish in Canberra, Australia sent out a message it hoped would somehow reach the craft and command it to correct its antenna orientation.

It took 18 and-a-half hours for the command to reach Voyager 2, and 37 hours total for mission controllers to know whether it was successful. But after what must have been dozens of tense hours, the team received science and telemetry data from Voyager 2 around 12:30 a.m. on Friday, indicating the craft remains operational and on its expected trajectory.

"NASA has reestablished full communications with Voyager 2," JPL announced , saying that the antenna has realigned with Earth.

Where is Voyager 2?

Voyager 2, which is nearly 46 years into its mission, is roughly 12.4 billion miles from Earth after leaving the heliosphere — the shield that protects the planets from interstellar radiation — five years ago, according to NASA.

The agency provides an interactive diagram tracking Voyager 2's path outside the solar system.

Historic probes launched in the 1970s

Voyager 2 was launched into space in 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Florida with the mission of exploring the outer solar system . Its twin probe, Voyager 1, launched two weeks later and at 15 billion miles away, has the distinction of being the farthest human-made object from Earth .

In 2012, Voyager 1 was the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space , followed in 2018 by Voyager 2.

Voyager 1's communications were not interrupted when a routine command sent its twin probe pointing in the wrong direction last month, disrupting it ability to receive commands or transmit data back to Earth.

Had NASA not reestablished contact, it wouldn't have been until Oct. 15 that Voyager 2 would have automatically repositioned its antenna to ensure it was pointed at its home planet.

'Internet apocalypse': How NASA's solar-storm studies could help save the web

Should they encounter extraterrestrial life, both Voyager 1 and 2 carry the famous " golden record ," functioning both as a time capsule and friendly Earthling greeting. The phonograph record — a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk — contains music, languages and sounds representative of Earth's various cultures and eras.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected].

NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

Black and white photo of men near satellite

NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft is back chatting it up after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

Key points:

Voyager 2 stopped communicating two weeks ago, after the wrong command tilted its antenna away from earth
Contact was re-established with a command sent using the highest powered transmitter of a giant radio dish in Canberra
Its the longest time without communication with the spacecraft, which was launched into the solar system in 1977

Hurtling ever deeper into interstellar space billions of miles away, Voyager 2 stopped communicating two weeks ago.

Controllers sent the wrong command to the 46-year-old spacecraft and tilted its antenna away from Earth.

NASA's Deep Space Network sent a new command in hopes of repointing the antenna, using the highest powered transmitter at the huge radio dish antenna in Canberra .

Voyager 2's antenna needed to be shifted a mere 2 degrees.

It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 — more than 19 billion kilometres away — and another 18 hours to hear back.

The long shot paid off.

The spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair," project manager Suzanne Dodd told The Associated Press.

"Voyager's back," project scientist Linda Spilker chimed in.

Voyager 2 has been hurtling through space since its launch in 1977 to explore the outer solar system.

Launched two weeks later, its twin, Voyager 1, is now the most distant spacecraft — 24 billion kilometres away — and still in contact.

The two-week outage was believed to be the longest NASA had gone without hearing from Voyager 2, Ms Dodd said.

As long as their plutonium power holds, the Voyagers may be alive and well for the 50th anniversary of their launch in 2027, according to Ms Dodd.

Among the scientific tidbits they've beamed back in recent years include details about the interstellar magnetic field and the abundance of cosmic rays.

"We've been very clever over the last 10 years to eke out every single little watt," Ms Dodd said.

"Hopefully, one of them will make it to 50. But they are old and certainly events like this one that just happened scare the dickens out of me, as far as making that type of a milestone."

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Voyager 2 enters into interstellar space, but it's still in the solar system

An artist's impression of the Voyager spacecraft in space

Space Exploration
United States

NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after weeks of silence from interstellar space

Scientists feared the 46-year-old spacecraft may have been lost for good, by marcia dunn and marcia dunn • published august 4, 2023 • updated on august 4, 2023 at 8:55 pm.

NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 — more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away — and another 18 hours to hear back.

Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.

The long shot paid off. On Friday, the spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair,” project manager Suzanne Dodd told The Associated Press.

“Voyager's back,” project scientist Linda Spilker chimed in.

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The two-week outage was believed to be the longest NASA had gone without hearing from Voyager 2, Dodd said.

As long as their plutonium power holds, the Voyagers may be alive and well for the 50th anniversary of their launch in 2027, according to Dodd. Among the scientific tidbits they've beamed back in recent years include details about the interstellar magnetic field and the abundance of cosmic rays.

“We've been very clever over the last 10 years to eke out every single little watt,” Dodd said. “Hopefully, one of them will make it to 50. But they are old and certainly events like this one that just happened scare the dickens out of me, as far as making that type of a milestone."

This article tagged under:

NASA Restores Contact With Voyager 2 Spacecraft After Mistake Led to Weeks of Silence

NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft is back in contact again, after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 1977, photo provided by NASA, the "Sounds of Earth" record is mounted on the Voyager 2 spacecraft in the Safe-1 Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., prior to encapsulation in the protective shroud. NASA is listening for any peep from Voyager 2 after losing contact with the spacecraft billions of miles away. (AP Photo/NASA, File)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 — more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away — and another 18 hours to hear back.

The long shot paid off. On Friday, the spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at California 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair,” project manager Suzanne Dodd told The Associated Press.

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“Voyager's back,” project scientist Linda Spilker chimed in.

The two-week outage was believed to be the longest NASA had gone without hearing from Voyager 2, Dodd said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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‘Interstellar shout’ restores NASA contact with lost Voyager 2 spacecraft

NASA’s Voyager 2 was lost in space because of a mixed signal, but a command dubbed an “interstellar shout” and beamed across billions of miles has restored contact with the spacecraft after two weeks of silence.

Voyager 2, which left Earth nearly 46 years ago, stopped receiving or transmitting communications in July, when controllers accidentally sent a command that shifted its antenna 2 degrees away from Earth.

This week, NASA’s Deep Space Network, which consists of giant radio antennas around the world, picked up a carrier signal from the spacecraft — or what the mission team likened to a “heartbeat” that was too faint to pinpoint the probe but confirmed it was still operating, the U.S. space agency said.

So, engineers tried to send the spacecraft a command to orient itself back at Earth, and they used the highest-powered transmitter at NASA’s huge dish in the Australian capital, Canberra, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Voyager missions.

It may have been a long shot, but they heard back. “We shouted 12.3 billion miles into interstellar space, instructing it to turn its antenna back to Earth,” the laboratory said Friday. “And after 37 hours, we found out it worked!”

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NASA said its Deep Space Network facility in Canberra “sent the equivalent of an interstellar ‘shout’” to Voyager 2 — a round-trip communication that required some 18.5 hours each way, for the command to reach the probe and to hear back.

“The spacecraft began returning science and telemetry data, indicating it is operating normally and that it remains on its expected trajectory,” NASA said in its latest update.

“I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair,” project manager Suzanne Dodd told the Associated Press . The two-week silence was thought to be the longest NASA went without hearing from Voyager 2.

If its efforts had not succeeded, the team would have had to wait for the 46-year-old probe to automatically reset its direction in October.

Voyager 2 , whose launch anniversary is this month, took off in 1977 to sail across the solar system and in 2018 entered interstellar space , the region between the sun’s heliosphere and the astrospheres of other stars. It is the only spacecraft ever to fly by Neptune and Uranus, while its twin, Voyager 1 , now nearly 15 billion miles away, is the most distant spacecraft from Earth.

NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

The "Sounds of Earth" golden record is mounted on the Voyager 2 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 1977.

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NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 — more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away — and another 18 hours to hear back.

PASADENA, CA - AUGUST 02: Suzanne Dodd worked on the Voyager mission in 1986 before moving onto Cassini and later returning to Voyager. Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is the most distant human-created object in space. Photographed on Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022 in Pasadena, CA. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

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The long shot paid off. On Friday, the spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge.

“I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair,” said project manager Suzanne Dodd .

“Voyager’s back,” project scientist Linda Spilker chimed in.

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The two-week outage was believed to be the longest NASA had gone without hearing from Voyager 2, Dodd said.

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NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 — more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away — and another 18 hours to hear back.

The long shot paid off. On Friday, the spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair,” project manager Suzanne Dodd told The Associated Press.

“Voyager’s back,” project scientist Linda Spilker chimed in.

The two-week outage was believed to be the longest NASA had gone without hearing from Voyager 2, Dodd said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Nasa restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to silence

Spacecraft more than 12 billion miles away returning data once again after its antenna was successfully repointed.

The 46-year-old Voyager 2 is currently more than 12 billion miles from Earth. Photograph: Nasa/AP

Nasa’s Voyager 2 spacecraft has come back online after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

On Wednesday, Nasa’s Deep Space Network sent a new command in hopes of repointing the antenna, using the highest powered transmitter at the huge radio dish antenna in Australia. Voyager 2’s antenna needed to be shifted a mere 2 per cent.

Graphic: PA

It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 – more than 12 billion miles away – and another 18 hours to hear back.

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The long shot paid off. On Friday, the spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair,” project manager Suzanne Dodd told the Associated Press.

“Voyager’s back,” project scientist Linda Spilker chimed in.

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The two-week outage was believed to be the longest Nasa had gone without hearing from Voyager 2, Ms Dodd said.

As long as their plutonium power holds, the Voyagers may be alive and well for the 50th anniversary of their launch in 2027, said Ms Dodd.

Among the scientific tidbits they have beamed back in recent years include details about the interstellar magnetic field and the abundance of cosmic rays.

“We’ve been very clever over the last 10 years to eke out every single little watt,” Ms Dodd said.

“Hopefully, one of them will make it to 50. But they are old and certainly events like this one that just happened scare the dickens out of me, as far as making that type of a milestone.” – AP

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NASA fully restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft

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An artist's concept of the Voyager 2 in interstellar space

NASA said Friday that it had fully restored communications with the Voyager 2 deep spacecraft, weeks after a mistaken command from flight controllers accidentally caused the probe to go dark.

Voyager 2 lost communications with NASA two weeks ago after a wrong command titled its antenna away from Earth. After a series of attempts, NASA finally got communications running again after the agency's Deep Space Network "sent the equivalent of an interstellar 'shout'...instructing the spacecraft to reorient itself and turn its antenna back to Earth," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said.

Early Friday morning, the vessel "began returning science and telemetry data, indicating it is operating normally and that it remains on its expected trajectory," the JPL added.

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The re-establishment of communications is likely to be a relief for NASA. While it did pick up a faint "heartbeat signal" from Voyager 2 earlier this week , agency officials worried that communications wouldn't be fully restored until this October, when the probe was scheduled to automatically reorient itself back to Earth. Given that this would be another two months to wait, NASA tried "sending up commands several times," JPL project manager Suzanne Dodd told The Associated Press . The last-ditch effort from the Deep Space Network has now appeared to pay off.

Launched in 1977 to explore the depths of space, Voyager 2 is currently about 12.4 billion miles from Earth, according to Space.com (which is owned by The Week's parent company, Future plc). The only manmade object that is further away from Earth is the craft's twin, Voyager 1 , which was launched a few weeks later and is currently 15 billion miles from Earth.

Voyager 2 entered interstellar space — the space between stars — in December 2018. Voyager 1 did so in 2012 , becoming the first manmade object to leave the solar system.

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Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other Hollywood news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.

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NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

In this Saturday, Aug. 20, 1977 file photo, the Voyager 2 spacecraft, atop a Titan Centaur rocket, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo)

NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

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On Wednesday, NASA's Deep Space Network sent a new command in hopes of repointing the antenna, using the highest powered transmitter at the huge radio dish antenna in Australia. Voyager 2's antenna needed to be shifted a mere 2 per cent.

It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 -- more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometres) away -- and another 18 hours to hear back.

The long shot paid off. On Friday, the spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair," project manager Suzanne Dodd told The Associated Press.

"Voyager's back," project scientist Linda Spilker chimed in.

Voyager 2 has been hurtling through space since its launch in 1977 to explore the outer solar system. Launched two weeks later, its twin, Voyager 1, is now the most distant spacecraft -- 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometres) away -- and still in contact.

The two-week outage was believed to be the longest NASA had gone without hearing from Voyager 2, Dodd said.

"We've been very clever over the last 10 years to eke out every single little watt," Dodd said. "Hopefully, one of them will make it to 50. But they are old and certainly events like this one that just happened scare the dickens out of me, as far as making that type of a milestone."

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 1977, photo provided by NASA, the "Sounds of Earth" record is mounted on the Voyager 2 spacecraft in the Safe-1 Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., prior to encapsulation in the protective shroud. NASA is listening for any peep from Voyager 2 after losing contact with the spacecraft billions of miles away. (AP Photo/NASA, File)

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NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 — more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away — and another 18 hours to hear back.

The long shot paid off. On Friday, the spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair,” project manager Suzanne Dodd told The Associated Press.

“Voyager’s back,” project scientist Linda Spilker chimed in.

The two-week outage was believed to be the longest NASA had gone without hearing from Voyager 2, Dodd said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 — more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away — and another 18 hours to hear back.

The long shot paid off. On Friday, the spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair,” project manager Suzanne Dodd told The Associated Press.

“Voyager's back,” project scientist Linda Spilker chimed in.

The two-week outage was believed to be the longest NASA had gone without hearing from Voyager 2, Dodd said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Jason Fitz is joined by Senior NFL Reporters Charles Robinson and Jori Epstein to go behind the scenes on the latest rumors and news around the NFL. The trio start with takeaways from the NFL owner's meetings as Jori was on the ground in Orlando. The hosts discuss the fallout of the new kickoff rule (are rosters going to change because of it?), the two Christmas Day games and what the heck Jerry Jones was doodling in his notebook. Next, it's time to pull out the crystal ball as the hosts attempt to look into the future for some key quarterbacks, starting with Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy's draft stock has been skyrocketing lately as some rumors emerged that he could go as high as second overall. Charles gives his thoughts and what he's hearing from GMs around the league before moving onto Brock Purdy and whether San Francisco will be willing to pay him when the time comes. Charles dives deeper into the 2024 quarterback class and why every prospect has a massive red flag, and Jori gives us the latest on the Dak Prescott contract negotiations, which seem to be heading in the wrong direction. All signs are pointing towards Dak hitting free agency next offseason. Finally, Fitz wraps things up by asking about Deion Sanders' comments about choosing where his sons get drafted and whether or not player empowerment could be ascending to a new level with the emergence of NIL.

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Nasa restores contact with voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence.

Marcia Dunn

Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

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Ed Stone was Voyager's project scientist for 50 years. He retired in 2022.

An older man in a coat and tie is standing in front of a full-size Voyager spacecraft model.

Can you give me an exact date/time and distance from Earth/sun when Voyager 1 entered interstellar space?

The Voyager team believes Voyager 1 entered interstellar space on Aug. 25, 2012.

The Voyager science team came by this conclusion by combining data about the changes in the charged particles observed on Aug. 25, 2012, the magnetic field data, and new plasma data from April to May 2013.

The new plasma data, that led the team to conclude the spacecraft had entered interstellar space, only have the resolution to point to the month of August 2012. But the charged particles from inside our solar bubble (known as the heliosphere) and outside our solar bubble made their permanent changes on Aug. 25, 2012. The change occurred sometime during a 13-hour period, so it can't be pinned down to the hour.

Voyager 1 was 11.3 billion miles (18.3 billion kilometers, or 122 astronomical units) away from the sun at that time. It was 11.3 billion miles (18.2 billion kilometers, or 121 astronomical units) from Earth.

It is another first in the history of exploration that includes Ferdinand Magellan's first circumnavigation of Earth; the first planetary flyby in 1962, when NASA's Mariner 2 went by Venus; and Neil Armstrong's first step on the Moon.

Voyager Project Scientist (Retired)

Where does this rank as a historical event?

Voyager 1 is the most distant object made by human hands. We've never entered the interstellar medium before, or actually sampled interstellar space, before now. It is another first in the history of exploration that includes Ferdinand Magellan's first circumnavigation of Earth; the first planetary flyby in 1962, when NASA's Mariner 2 went by Venus; and Neil Armstrong's first step on the Moon.

What kind of an environment is Voyager 1 in?

Voyager 1 is in a new environment just beyond the plasma (the solar wind) emitted by the sun, and immersed in the plasma of interstellar space.

Plasma is the densest and slowest moving of charged particles in space. (The glow of neon in a storefront sign is an example of plasma.) It is the most important marker that distinguishes whether Voyager 1 is inside our solar bubble, which is inflated with the plasma that streams outward from our sun, or outside in interstellar space, which was generated when nearby giant stars exploded millions of years ago.

Voyager 1 is still feeling some solar magnetic and charged particle effects, so it can still feel the influence from our sun. Scientists are not sure when Voyager 1 will reach undisturbed interstellar space.

How do we know Voyager 1 is in interstellar space?

The Voyager team is saying that the Voyager 1 spacecraft entered interstellar space on Aug. 25, 2012, because of new data from April 2013 from Voyager 1's plasma wave instrument. A chance burst of material from the sun occurred around March 2012. It took 13 months for it to travel out to the point in space where Voyager 1 was located at the time, and vibrated the plasma around it. Voyager 1 heard those vibrations - the first time in eight years the instrument team detected tones of this type - and went back through their recent data. They extrapolated Voyager 1's entry into this dense plasma to be August 2012.

How often do these solar events happen?

The sun can have up to several coronal mass ejections, or bursts of solar material, a day during its peak of activity. This time of peak activity is called solar maximum. Voyager 1 and 2 detected massive coronal mass ejections from 1983 to 1984 and from 1992 to 1993. Those msssive ejections caused radio waves that can be detected inside the heliosphere. But the St. Patrick's Day solar storms were not considered massive and didn't result in any detectable radio emissions inside the heliosphere. Plasma oscillations, which are what Voyager 1 just detected, can only be heard when a spacecraft is in the interstellar plasma. Voyager 1 was lucky the St. Patrick's Day solar storms reached the interstellar plasma and made it oscillate in the region where Voyager 1 was.

How do we know the plasma that Voyager 1 is seeing is interstellar plasma?

The plasma Voyager 1 saw in April 2013 is more than 40 times denser than plasma that was measured by Voyager 2 in the outer layer of the solar bubble around the same timeframe. The difference is significant. This density is also what has been expected that Voyager would encounter in interstellar space.

How sure are you that you've reached interstellar space?

Key changes the Voyager team has expected to occur upon arrival to interstellar space have occurred. The changes in the energetic particles were what we have expected to see. The change in the density of the plasma is dramatic and has the density we expect to see in interstellar space.

In the year 40,272 (38,259 years from now), Voyager 1 will come within 1.7 light years of an obscure star in the constellation Ursa Minor (the Little Bear or Little Dipper) called AC+79 3888.

Why is the voyager team saying aug. 25, 2012 rather than just august 2012.

The plasma wave science team extrapolated their data back to say we entered this dense plasma in August 2012. Because it is an extrapolation, there is some uncertainty. But we do know that the particles from inside our heliosphere (solar particles) basically disappeared for good and outside particles zoomed in at their highest rates on Aug. 25, 2012. So the Voyager science team felt there was now enough evidence to say Aug. 25, 2012, was the day humankind entered interstellar space.

Why didn't Voyager team scientists know earlier they had entered interstellar space more than a year ago?

The Voyager science team needed data on the plasma and time to analyze them.

Data from Aug. 25, 2012 showed lower-energy charged particles that originate from inside our solar bubble disappearing for good, and higher-energy particles from far outside our heliosphere jumping to their highest levels. Those were two of the key signs of interstellar arrival.

These changes were what would have been expected during a crossing of the heliopause, or the boundary between our solar bubble and interstellar space. Scientists also expected an abrupt change in the direction of the magnetic field surrounding the spacecraft as Voyager 1 entered the interstellar magnetic field. When subsequent analysis of magnetic field data indicated there had been no change, the team thought Voyager 1 was likely still inside the solar bubble. Voyager 1 does not have a working plasma sensor, so scientists needed a different way to measure the plasma. That opportunity came with the chance solar outbursts.

What would have happened if Mother Nature didn't help us out and send out one of these periodic outbursts from the Sun?

If we did not have that burst of solar material from March 2012 that made it out to interstellar space, the Voyager science team would still be looking for other, indirect ways to understand the plasma environment. Their only strategy would be to see if things changed. For example, they would have looked to see if the magnetic field changed direction or intensity abruptly over time. They would have also kept an eye on changes in the charged particles.

Why did scientists talk about the magnetic field in the past as one of the indicators of interstellar space and stop talking about it now?

Scientists were using the magnetic field as a proxy for plasma since Voyager 1 didn't have direct measurements of plasma. Voyager 1's plasma instrument, which measures the density, temperature and speed of plasma, had stopped working in 1980, right after its last planetary flyby. Since solar plasma carries the magnetic field lines emanating from the Sun and interstellar plasma carries interstellar magnetic field lines, they thought they could understand the plasma environment by looking at the magnetic field.

Once the actual data on plasma came in from the plasma wave instrument, those data told the team conclusively that the plasma had changed. The change in the plasma was the key observation they were looking for.

How far away is Voyager 1 right now?

Voyager 1 is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away from the Sun and Earth (as of Sept. 9, 2013 when this interview was conducted). Use the interactive below to see Voyager's present position.

What about Voyager 2? Has it encountered interstellar space?

Editor's Note: Voyager 2 entered interstellar space on Nov. 5, 2018.

Even though Voyager 2 was launched first, it has not yet reached the interstellar medium. We know from plasma instrument measurements that the Voyager 2 spacecraft is still in the heliosheath. We are keeping a close eye on the Voyager 2 data and are in the process of analyzing it.

Voyager 1 is about 3.4 billion kilometers farther from the Sun than Voyager 2 is. They are traveling in different directions. Voyager 1 is traveling in a northerly direction, while Voyager 2 is traveling in a southerly direction. Use the interactive below to see Voyager's present position.

How long can Voyager 1 and 2 continue to function?

Editor's note: Both Voyagers were operational in January 2024.

Voyager 1 and 2 are expected to keep their current suite of fields and particles science instruments on through 2020. (The ultraviolet instrument on Voyager 1 is the only experiment on the scan platform that is still sending back data, though these data don't distinguish between the heliosphere and interstellar space. There is no NASA-funded science team associated with this instrument. It will be turned off in 2014 to conserve power for other instruments.)

In 2020, because of limited electrical power, spacecraft engineers will begin turning off fields and particles science instruments one by one. They expect one last science instrument to operate until 2025.

The radioisotope thermoelectric generator puts out 4 watts less each year. Therefore, mission scientists have to prioritize which instruments are the most likely to send key data about the heliosphere and interstellar space and turn off the others one by one. Heaters and other spacecraft systems have also been turned off one by one as part of power management.

Even if science data won't likely be collected after 2025, engineering data could continue to be returned for several more years. The two Voyager spacecraft could remain in the range of the Deep Space Network through about 2036, depending on how much power the spacecraft still have to transmit a signal back to Earth.

Where is Voyager 1 going? When will it get there? How about Voyager 2?

Voyager 1 is escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.5 AU per year, 35 degrees out of the ecliptic plane to the north, in the general direction of the Solar Apex (the direction of the Sun's motion relative to nearby stars). Voyager 1 will leave the solar system aiming toward the constellation Ophiuchus. In the year 40,272 AD (38,259 years from now), Voyager 1 will come within 1.7 light years of an obscure star in the constellation Ursa Minor (the Little Bear or Little Dipper) called AC+79 3888.

Voyager 2 is escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.1 AU per year, 48 degrees out of the ecliptic plane to the south toward the constellations of Sagittarius and Pavo. In about 40,000 years, Voyager 2 will come within about 1.7 light years of a star called Ross 248, a small star in the constellation of Andromeda.

NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

Saturday 5 August 2023 at 8:25am

NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft has come back into contact with flight controllers after they corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 — more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away — and another 18 hours to hear back.

The long shot paid off. On Friday, the spacecraft started returning data again, according to officials at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“I just sort of sighed. I melted in the chair,” project manager Suzanne Dodd told The Associated Press.

“Voyager's back,” project scientist Linda Spilker chimed in.

The two-week outage was believed to be the longest NASA had gone without hearing from Voyager 2, Dodd said.

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NASA optimistic about resolving Voyager 1 computer problem

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WASHINGTON — A NASA official says he is optimistic that a problem with the Voyager 1 spacecraft that has kept it from transmitting intelligible data for months can be resolved.

Speaking at a March 20 meeting of the National Academies’ Committee on Solar and Space Physics, Joseph Westlake, director of NASA’s heliophysics division, said it appeared possible to fix the computer problem on the nearly 50-year-old spacecraft that has disrupted operations since last November.

“I feel like we’re on a path now to resolution,” he said. “They’re on the right path and I think we’re going to get to a point where Voyager 1 is going to continue, alive and kicking in space.”

Spacecraft controllers first noticed a problem with the spacecraft in November, when the data transmitted by the spacecraft was unusable. Engineers concluded that the problem was with an onboard computer called the flight data system (FDS), which collects data from the spacecraft’s instruments and other spacecraft telemetry.

Several factors have hampered efforts to correct the problem. Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is now more than 24 billion kilometers from Earth, which means it takes 22.5 hours for signals to travel between Earth and the spacecraft. None of the people who developed the FDS in the early to mid 1970s are available to assist now, so the project has had to turn to documentation to help identify the problem.

NASA announced March 13 progress in fixing the FDS when a command called a “poke” was transmitted to Voyager, and the spacecraft responded by sending back a readout of its memory. The agency said at the time it will compare that readout to one transmitted before the problem to help identify the issue.

Westlake said at the committee meeting that the problem appears to be a corrupted memory unit on the spacecraft. “It’s a part failure on one of the memories and they’re looking for a way to move a couple hundred words of software from one region to another in the flight computer,” he said. A word is two bytes.

He did not estimate how long it would take to make those software changes. NASA, in its latest statement about the spacecraft, said that using the FDS memory readout “to devise a potential solution and attempt to put it into action will take time.”

Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science... More by Jeff Foust

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NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is talking nonsense. Its friends on Earth are worried

Nell Greenfieldboyce

This artist's impression shows one of the Voyager spacecraft moving through the darkness of space. NASA/JPL-Caltech hide caption

This artist's impression shows one of the Voyager spacecraft moving through the darkness of space.

The last time Stamatios "Tom" Krimigis saw the Voyager 1 space probe in person, it was the summer of 1977, just before it launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Now Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles away, beyond what many consider to be the edge of the solar system. Yet the on-board instrument Krimigis is in charge of is still going strong.

"I am the most surprised person in the world," says Krimigis — after all, the spacecraft's original mission to Jupiter and Saturn was only supposed to last about four years.

These days, though, he's also feeling another emotion when he thinks of Voyager 1.

"Frankly, I'm very worried," he says.

Ever since mid-November, the Voyager 1 spacecraft has been sending messages back to Earth that don't make any sense. It's as if the aging spacecraft has suffered some kind of stroke that's interfering with its ability to speak.

"It basically stopped talking to us in a coherent manner," says Suzanne Dodd of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who has been the project manager for the Voyager interstellar mission since 2010. "It's a serious problem."

Instead of sending messages home in binary code, Voyager 1 is now just sending back alternating 1s and 0s. Dodd's team has tried the usual tricks to reset things — with no luck.

It looks like there's a problem with the onboard computer that takes data and packages it up to send back home. All of this computer technology is primitive compared to, say, the key fob that unlocks your car, says Dodd.

"The button you press to open the door of your car, that has more compute power than the Voyager spacecrafts do," she says. "It's remarkable that they keep flying, and that they've flown for 46-plus years."

Each of the Voyager probes carries an American flag and a copy of a golden record that can play greetings in many languages. NASA/JPL-Caltech hide caption

Each of the Voyager probes carries an American flag and a copy of a golden record that can play greetings in many languages.

Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, have outlasted many of those who designed and built them. So to try to fix Voyager 1's current woes, the dozen or so people on Dodd's team have had to pore over yellowed documents and old mimeographs.

"They're doing a lot of work to try and get into the heads of the original developers and figure out why they designed something the way they did and what we could possibly try that might give us some answers to what's going wrong with the spacecraft," says Dodd.

She says that they do have a list of possible fixes. As time goes on, they'll likely start sending commands to Voyager 1 that are more bold and risky.

"The things that we will do going forward are probably more challenging in the sense that you can't tell exactly if it's going to execute correctly — or if you're going to maybe do something you didn't want to do, inadvertently," says Dodd.

Linda Spilker , who serves as the Voyager mission's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, says that when she comes to work she sees "all of these circuit diagrams up on the wall with sticky notes attached. And these people are just having a great time trying to troubleshoot, you know, the 60's and 70's technology."

"I'm cautiously optimistic," she says. "There's a lot of creativity there."

Still, this is a painstaking process that could take weeks, or even months. Voyager 1 is so distant, it takes almost a whole day for a signal to travel out there, and then a whole day for its response to return.

"We'll keep trying," says Dodd, "and it won't be quick."

In the meantime, Voyager's 1 discombobulation is a bummer for researchers like Stella Ocker , an astronomer with Caltech and the Carnegie Observatories

"We haven't been getting science data since this anomaly started," says Ocker, "and what that means is that we don't know what the environment that the spacecraft is traveling through looks like."

After 35 Years, Voyager Nears Edge Of Solar System

That interstellar environment isn't just empty darkness, she says. It contains stuff like gas, dust, and cosmic rays. Only the twin Voyager probes are far out enough to sample this cosmic stew.

"The science that I'm really interested in doing is actually only possible with Voyager 1," says Ocker, because Voyager 2 — despite being generally healthy for its advanced age — can't take the particular measurements she needs for her research.

Even if NASA's experts and consultants somehow come up with a miraculous plan that can get Voyager 1 back to normal, its time is running out.

The two Voyager probes are powered by plutonium, but that power system will eventually run out of juice. Mission managers have turned off heaters and taken other measures to conserve power and extend the Voyager probes' lifespan.

"My motto for a long time was 50 years or bust," says Krimigis with a laugh, "but we're sort of approaching that."

In a couple of years, the ebbing power supply will force managers to start turning off science instruments, one by one. The very last instrument might keep going until around 2030 or so.

When the power runs out and the probes are lifeless, Krimigis says both of these legendary space probes will basically become "space junk."

"It pains me to say that," he says. While Krimigis has participated in space missions to every planet, he says the Voyager program has a special place in his heart.

Spilker points out that each spacecraft will keep moving outward, carrying its copy of a golden record that has recorded greetings in many languages, along with the sounds of Earth.

"The science mission will end. But a part of Voyager and a part of us will continue on in the space between the stars," says Spilker, noting that the golden records "may even outlast humanity as we know it."

Krimigis, though, doubts that any alien will ever stumble across a Voyager probe and have a listen.

"Space is empty," he says, "and the probability of Voyager ever running into a planet is probably slim to none."

It will take about 40,000 years for Voyager 1 to approach another star; it will come within 1.7 light years of what NASA calls "an obscure star in the constellation Ursa Minor" — also known as the Little Dipper.

If NASA greenlights this interstellar mission, it could last 100 years

Knowing that the Voyager probes are running out of time, scientists have been drawing up plans for a new mission that, if funded and launched by NASA, would send another probe even farther out into the space between stars.

"If it happens, it would launch in the 2030s," says Ocker, "and it would reach twice as far as Voyager 1 in just 50 years."

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Voyager 1's Communication Malfunctions May Show the Spacecraft's Age

A s it turns out, spacecraft aren't immune to age. In November 2023, NASA's 46-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft started sending a stream of nonsense to Earth, spewing out signals without any morsel of meaning . Members of the Voyager 1 mission team are rushing to resolve the issue in the aging spacecraft and are relatively optimistic after receiving a more meaningful response from the spacecraft this month.

But the ongoing breakdown in communication casts doubts on the durability of the probe and about why its systems are so prone to problems - a product, it seems, of the passage of time.

Read More: The Best of Voyager: The Longest-Running Space Mission in History

What Went Wrong with Voyager 1?

Sent into space in 1977 as part of NASA's Voyager mission , the Voyager 1 spacecraft has traveled more than 15 billion miles through space. Throughout its travels, the spacecraft has collected information about its surroundings and its status while drifting deeper and deeper into the universe, compiling insights on the outer solar system and the space beyond the outer solar system alongside its twin, the Voyager 2 spacecraft .

The probe has had its fair share of bugs throughout the course of its trip, with one of its biggest blips beginning in November. Though the spacecraft continues to receive and respect the commands of the Voyager 1 mission team, its communication system started to fail at around that time, meaning the spacecraft cannot send meaningful signals of its own. Instead, it's stuck returning a repeating sequence of ones and zeros, rather than its typical output of important insights condensed in convenient bundles of binary code.

As of now, the problem seems to persist, interrupting Voyager 1's interstellar investigation. But this isn't the only problem that's troubled the probe. In fact, after almost fifty years of flight, Voyager 1 is increasingly showing signs of its age.

Read More: Voyager: The Man Behind the Mission

Why Is Voyager 1 Prone to Problems?

Initially intended to study Jupiter and Saturn , Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were built to survive only five years of flight. But as their flybys of the two planets came to a close and as their trajectories forged further and further into space, it seemed a shame to cut their travels short. In time, their two-planet mission transformed into a four-planet mission, and their four-planet mission transformed into an interstellar mission, as the probes became the first spacecraft to shoot into the space between stars, in 2012 and 2018 respectively.

Since then, though, Voyager 1's smooth sailing has become bumpier and bumpier, possibly a product of age. In 2017, for instance, the probe's primary thrusters started to struggle, pushing the Voyager 1 team to switch to its secondary thrusters to maintain its ability to align itself for communication. And in 2022, Voyager 1's attitude articulation and control system (AACS) met with a malfunction of its own, reducing the spacecraft's messages to meaningless nonsense , a lot like the issue that started in November.

Aside from these issues, it's the diminishing power supplies of the aging spacecraft that pose the biggest problems: As their power diminishes, scientists are slowly switching off some of their scientific instruments in an attempt to save others. It's a strategic move, as mission team members attempt to get as much information out of the probes as possible, though issues, including the ongoing Voyager 1 glitch, only get in the way of that goal.

Read More: Voyager: What's Next for NASA's Interstellar Probes?

What Will Fix Voyager 1?

Identifying the issue in the spacecraft's computers, the Voyager 1 mission team concluded that the current conundrum arose from a " corrupted section " in the software of one of Voyager 1's communication systems, called the flight data subsystem (FDS). This subsystem bundles the information collected by the probe before it is beamed back to the mission team.

In December, the mission team restarted the FDS, though the restart failed to return the subsystem to its functional state. In the aftermath of the attempt, the team then decided to send a command called a " poke " to the probe on March 1. The poke was cautiously considered and planned to push the corrupted subsystem to work around its corruption.

A response was received on March 3, not nonsense, but still difficult to discern. The delay in the response was anticipated - it takes 22.5 hours for signals to reach the probe and another 22.5 hours for signals to reach the mission team - but the response was cryptic. It wasn't until March 10 that the mission team members determined the response carried a readout of the FDS memory, including its initial instructions as well as its altered code, whether altered by command or by the status of the spacecraft.

By comparing the readout to those received before the issue began, it is possible that the team will identify the source of the problem, as well as its solution. But that " will take time ," according to a NASA press release - a particularly precious resource for the aging probe.

Read More: 5 NASA Spacecraft That Are Leaving Our Solar System for Good

Article Sources

Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:

NASA The Sun Spot. Engineers Working to Resolve Issue With Voyager 1 Computer

NASA. Voyager

NASA. Voyager 1

NASA. Voyager 2

NASA The Sun Spot. NASA Engineers Make Progress Toward Understanding Voyager 1 Issue

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Voyager - Fact Sheet

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Voyager - The Interstellar Mission

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Voyager 1 Fires Up Thrusters After 37 Years

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Engineers Investigating NASA's Voyager 1 Telemetry Data

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA's Voyager Will Do More Science With New Power Strategy

Voyager 1's Communication Malfunctions May Show the Spacecraft's Age

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NASA fully restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 after weeks of silence
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2
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NASA restores communication with Voyager 2

COMMENTS

NASA says it has resumed full contact with its Voyager 2 spacecraft
After a 12.3-billion-mile 'shout,' NASA regains full contact with Voyager 2. A NASA image of one of the twin Voyager space probes. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory lost contact with Voyager 2 on July ...
NASA Restores Voyager 2 Contact With a Last-Ditch 'Shout' Into Space
Aug. 4, 2023. It took an interstellar "shout" across the solar system. But NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Friday that it re-established full communications with Voyager 2, an aging ...
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft
Aug. 4, 2023, 5:23 PM PDT / Source: The Associated Press. By The Associated Press. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers ...
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence. Hurtling ever deeper into interstellar space billions of miles away, Voyager 2 stopped communicating two weeks ago. Controllers sent the wrong command to the 46-year-old ...
NASA's 'shout' restores communication with Voyager 2
NASA sent a radio signal to Voyager 2, located billions of miles away in interstellar space, and restored communications with the spacecraft after an errant command caused a blackout.
Voyager 2 contact reestablished after NASA sends 'shout. across space
0:51. After weeks of giving Earth the silent treatment, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft is once again communicating with mission control from billions of miles away. All it took was for the ground ...
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to
Voyager 2 stopped communicating two weeks ago, after the wrong command tilted its antenna away from earth. Contact was re-established with a command sent using the highest powered transmitter of a ...
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 after correcting mistake
NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence. Hurtling ever deeper into interstellar space billions of ...
NASA Restores Contact With Voyager 2 Spacecraft After Mistake Led to
NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft is back in contact again, after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence. FILE - In this Aug. 4, 1977, photo provided by NASA, the ...
NASA restores contact with lost Voyager 2 space probe after two weeks
NASA's Voyager 2 was lost in space because of a mixed signal, but a command dubbed an "interstellar shout" and beamed across billions of miles has restored contact with the spacecraft after ...
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 after weeks of silence
Aug. 4, 2023 6:22 PM PT. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —. NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence ...
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to
Voyager 2's antenna needed to be shifted a mere 2 degrees. It took more than 18 hours for the command to reach Voyager 2 — more than 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) away — and ...
Nasa restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to
Sat Aug 5 2023 - 07:45. Nasa's Voyager 2 spacecraft has come back online after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence. Hurtling ever deeper into interstellar ...
NASA fully restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft
By Justin Klawans, The Week US. published 5 August 2023. NASA said Friday that it had fully restored communications with the Voyager 2 deep spacecraft, weeks after a mistaken command from flight ...
Voyager 2: NASA restores contact with spacecraft
Voyager 2: NASA restores contact with spacecraft 08/05/2023 August 5, 2023. NASA scientists are breathing a sigh of relief as data from the Voyager 2 spacecraft is again being received. The long ...
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft
In this Aug. 4, 1977, photo provided by NASA, the 'Sounds of Earth' record is mounted on the Voyager 2 spacecraft in the Safe-1 Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., prior to encapsulation ...
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to
FILE - In this Aug. 4, 1977, photo provided by NASA, the "Sounds of Earth" record is mounted on the Voyager 2 spacecraft in the Safe-1 Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., prior to ...
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to
In this Aug. 4, 1977, photo provided by NASA, the "Sounds of Earth" record is mounted on the Voyager 2 spacecraft in the Safe-1 Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., prior to encapsulation ...
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to
FILE - In this Aug. 4, 1977, photo provided by NASA, the "Sounds of Earth" record is mounted on the Voyager 2 spacecraft in the Safe-1 Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after ...
FILE - In this Aug. 4, 1977, photo provided by NASA, the "Sounds of Earth" record is mounted on the Voyager 2 spacecraft in the Safe-1 Building at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to
NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence. Hurtling ever deeper into interstellar space billions of miles away, Voyager 2 stopped communicating two weeks ago. Controllers sent the wrong command to the 46-year-old spacecraft and tilted its antenna away from Earth.
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to
On Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023, NASA's Deep Space Network sent a command to correct a problem with its antenna. It took more than 18 hours for the signal to reach Voyager 2 _ more than 12 billion ...
Questions and Answers with Dr. Ed Stone
Voyager 2 is escaping the solar system at a speed of about 3.1 AU per year, 48 degrees out of the ecliptic plane to the south toward the constellations of Sagittarius and Pavo. In about 40,000 years, Voyager 2 will come within about 1.7 light years of a star called Ross 248, a small star in the constellation of Andromeda.
NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft
NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft has come back into contact with flight controllers after they corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence. Hurtling ever deeper into interstellar space ...
Voyager 1 sends back surprising response after 'poke' from NASA
A "poke" sent to the Voyager 1 probe received a response that could help NASA restore reliable communication with the aging spacecraft 15 billion miles away.
NASA optimistic about resolving Voyager 1 computer problem
Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is now more than 24 billion kilometers from Earth, which means it takes 22.5 hours for signals to travel between Earth and the spacecraft.
NASA scientist viewed first Voyager images. What he saw gave ...
On Feb. 14, 1990, NASA engineers planned to turn off Voyager 1's cameras to conserve power. The flybys of glorious worlds had ended, and the journey into the farthest reaches of our solar system ...
PDF Chapter 3 Voyager Telecommunications
(January 30) for Voyager 2 from 1995 to 2020, one year per curve. The horizontal axis is a 24-hour period. The main shape of any of the curves is due to the increasing DSS-43 elevation angle to Voyager 2 (from 17:00 to 21:00) and the decreasing elevation angle (from 05:00 to 09:00). All of the Fig. 3-8
NASA is trying to fix Voyager 1, but the old spacecraft's days are
NASA is trying to fix Voyager 1, but the old spacecraft's days are numbered Voyager 1 has been traveling through space since 1977, and some scientists hoped it could keep sending back science data ...
Voyager 1's Communication Malfunctions May Show the Spacecraft's Age
As it turns out, spacecraft aren't immune to age. In November 2023, NASA's 46-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft started sending a stream of nonsense to Earth, spewing out signals without any morsel of ...

NASA Reaches Voyager 2 With a Last-Ditch ‘Shout’ Across the Void

What’s Up in Space and Astronomy

NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

A 'shout' across interstellar space restores contact between Voyager 2 craft and NASA

Where is Voyager 2?

Historic probes launched in the 1970s

NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

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