The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory reports a partial restoration of communication with the Voyager 2 probe, which was launched more than forty years ago.
The only antenna in the world that can transmit commands aboard the Voyager 2 is DSS43 (Deep Space Station 43), located in Canberra (the capital of Australia). However, this 70-meter “dish” was turned off in mid-March for repairs and upgrades.
Because of this, for almost eight months, the Voyager 2 station was in independent flight mode. Scientists could only receive certain information from the spacecraft, but not send control commands.
And now it is reported that on October 29, during a test switch-on of the DSS43, specialists established communication with the Voyager 2 probe. The device responded to the request and executed the commands received without any problems.
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Thus, the conducted communication session indicates that Voyager 2 has successfully survived the period of silence of the ground control point. The updated DSS43 system is planned to be fully operational in February next year.
We add that the Voyager 2 station was launched back in 1977 to study the distant planets of the solar system. Now the probe is located in interstellar space at a distance of about 18.8 billion kilometers from Earth.
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