After eight months, one of the most distant human artifacts in existence made its first return call: to Canberra | The Canberra Times

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From the cold and lonely depths of interstellar space, Voyager 2 made its first response to planet earth in eight months, with the Canberra deep space communications complex in Tidbinbilla receiving the long-awaited signal. After 34 hours and 48 minutes of tension, the signal finally reached Tidbinbilla’s large antenna, and the scientists heaved “a great sigh of data” that one of the farthest pieces of human artifact in existence was still “awake” and functioning. “As time went on, it was a moment of anxiety awaiting the answer,” said Glen Nagle, head of the Deep Space Network Center. “Voyager 2 is now 18.6 billion kilometers from us traveling at 17 kilometers per second, so the speed of light signal takes 17 hours and 24 minutes each way.” While we have received one-way data from Voyager, this is the longest period we’ve gone in that we haven’t had two-way communication with the spacecraft. “So he traveled out there in deep space, cold and alone, for a long time.” The reason for the communication break was that Canberra’s large DSS-43 communications dish, the only one capable of communicating with Voyager 2 due to its distance and location, underwent a $ 4 million funded refurbishment. from NASA. The renovations will be finalized in February, but enough updates have been installed so far to allow scientists to run the tests. “For a first communication in such a long time we didn’t want to send anything too complex, so it was a pretty simple command: ‘reset the on-board clock,'” Nagle said. “And almost a day and a half later we went back:” resetting the clock. ” That was a real “phew” moment for us and the mission team in Pasadena, California. “Basically for us, it’s like Voyager is saying ‘hi, I’m still here’.” Launched in 1977 to study the outer planets, Voyager 2 has been traveling for 43 years and has now ventured into a part of interstellar space that is three times farther than Pluto’s orbit. The brave old spacecraft still travels 1.4 million kilometers a day from us. But here’s the jaw-dropping part: given the direction it’s traveling, Voyager 2 won’t reach the closest star to it – Wolf 359, in the constellation Leo – for another 40,000 years. Meanwhile, the Tidbinbilla complex team is pursuing the big plate’s return to full functionality, ready for its participation in two upcoming Mars programs. The first is NASA’s Perseverance rover mission that will drop a six-wheeled vehicle on the surface of the red planet’s Jezero crater in about 100 days. The second is a UAE-funded mission, the Hope orbiter, which will study storms, weather events and various cycles in the atmosphere of Mars. After that, there is NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2024 as part of the Artemis mission. While its educational and visitor programs have had to be curtailed due to COVID-19, the Tidbinbilla space complex hopes to reopen to the public in December.

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From the cold and lonely depths of interstellar space, Voyager 2 made its first response to planet earth in eight months, with the Canberra deep space communications complex in Tidbinbilla receiving the long-awaited signal.

After 34 hours and 48 minutes of tension, the signal finally reached Tidbinbilla’s large antenna, and the scientists heaved “a great sigh of data” that one of the farthest pieces of human artifact in existence was still “awake” and functioning.

“As time went on, it was a moment of anxiety awaiting the answer,” said Glen Nagle, head of the Deep Space Network Center.

“Voyager 2 is now 18.6 billion kilometers from us, traveling at 17 kilometers per second, so the speed of light signal takes 17 hours and 24 minutes each way.

“While we have received one-way data from Voyager, this is the longest period in which we have not had two-way communication with the spacecraft.

“So he traveled out there in deep space, cold and alone, for a long time.”

The reason for the communication break was that Canberra’s large DSS-43 communications dish, the only one capable of communicating with Voyager 2 due to its distance and location, underwent a $ 4 million funded refurbishment. from NASA.

Voyager 2. Image: JPL

The renovations will be finalized in February, but enough updates have been installed so far to allow scientists to run the tests.

“For a first communication in such a long time we didn’t want to send anything too complex, so it was a pretty simple command: ‘reset the on-board clock,'” Nagle said.

“And almost a day and a half later we returned:” reset the clock “.

“That was a real ‘phew’ moment for us and the mission team in Pasadena, California.

“Basically for us, it’s like Voyager is saying ‘hi, I’m still here’.”

Launched in 1977 to study the outer planets, Voyager 2 has been traveling for 43 years and has now ventured into a part of interstellar space that is three times further away than Pluto’s orbit. The brave old spacecraft still travels 1.4 million kilometers a day from us.

But here’s the jaw-dropping part: given the direction it’s traveling, Voyager 2 won’t reach the closest star to it – Wolf 359, in the constellation Leo – for another 40,000 years.

Meanwhile, the Tidbinbilla complex team is pursuing the big plate’s return to full functionality, ready for its participation in two upcoming Mars programs.

The first is NASA’s Perseverance rover mission that will drop a six-wheeled vehicle on the surface of the red planet’s Jezero crater in about 100 days.

The second is a UAE-funded mission, the Hope orbiter, which will study storms, weather events and various cycles in the atmosphere of Mars.

After that, there is NASA’s plan to bring astronauts back to the moon by 2024 as part of the Artemis mission.

While its educational and visitor programs have had to be curtailed due to COVID-19, the Tidbinbilla space complex hopes to reopen to the public again in December.