AFP/NASAspace probe Voyager
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 16:43
After days of no contact, NASA has received a signal from the Voyager 2 space probe. Two weeks ago, the American space agency accidentally gave a wrong command, so that the spacecraft’s antenna has now rotated 2 degrees. Voyager’s signals could no longer reach NASA as a result.
A satellite dish in Canberra, Australia, has now picked up a signal from the 46-year-old Voyager, NASA now reports. According to the organization, this means that the spacecraft is still working properly.
The spacecraft is currently 12 billion miles away, which means that a signal from Voyager takes about 18 hours to reach Earth.
A NASA research center in California will try to get Voyager’s antenna back in the right direction in the near future. If that is not possible, you will have to wait until October 15. The Voyager is programmed in such a way that the probe automatically repositions the antenna on that date. This happens several times every year.
Outside the solar system
Voyager 2 was launched in 1977 to explore Jupiter and Saturn. Later, the probe also visited distant planets Uranus and Neptune. In 2018, Voyager 2 became the second spacecraft ever to leave our solar system, after the identical Voyager 1 had done so several years earlier. The latter probe is currently located 24 billion kilometers from Earth and is still accessible to NASA.
The two spacecraft are currently exploring interstellar space, the space between the stars. The two vessels still send information to NASA every day.
Voyager 1 and 2 visited four planets in the 1970s and 1980s and then headed for interstellar space. Watch a look back at the mission here:
Looking Back: The Voyager Spacecraft Mission
2023-08-01 14:43:59
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