NASA reconnects to Voyager 2 11 billion miles from Earth

NASA has reconnected with the Voyager 2 space probe, which is currently exploring the boundaries of interstellar space.

The probe was launched in 1977 and is currently 11.5 billion miles from Earth.

Together with Voyager 1, they are the most distant spacecraft in the known universe.

Earlier this year, NASA was forced to abandon Voyager 2 as it focused on hardware upgrades at Deep Space Station 43 Ground (DSS43) in Australia. This week, the space agency turned on the new instruments and sent a sound to the spacecraft as it flew across the boundaries of space.

Due to the large distances, the team had to wait 34 hours to respond.

But the dispatch was successful and Voyager 2 sent a welcome.

DSS43 is one of three other companies that are part of the Deep Space Network (DSN) that communicates with ships in deep space: the other two include Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain.

“What makes this mission unique is that we work at all levels of the antenna, from the base at ground level to the center of the plate extending beyond the edge,” said Brad Arnold, DSN Project Manager at Jet Propulsion NASA Laboratory in Southern California. .

“Our connectivity test with Voyager 2 definitely tells us that things are in line with the work we are doing.”

In 1989, the spacecraft flew over Neptune’s north pole during a close flyby, pushing it south – and has been heading in that direction ever since.

Now more than 11.6 billion miles from Earth, the spacecraft is so far south that it has no line of sight with radio masts in the Northern Hemisphere.

DSS43 is the only technology on our planet that has a transmitter powerful enough to reach this distance and now receives scientific data on interstellar space from the spacecraft.

There are only two other identical antennas in the world, so turning off the antenna for a year isn’t ideal for a Voyager or Voyager, said Philip Baldwin, director of operations for NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program. . For many other NASA missions.

“The agency has decided to conduct these updates to ensure that the antenna continues to be used for current and future missions.”

“For an antenna that’s around 50 years old, it’s better to be proactive than reactive with the necessary maintenance.

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