Pressing the wrong key on the keyboard doesn’t sound like a huge problem at first glance. But if you’re controlling a probe tens of billions of kilometers away from Earth, it can be a big bummer. That’s what happened to the NASA engineers who control the famous Voyager 2 probe, which is the second-farthest human creation from our planet after its sister number one in the universe. Scientists are now looking for it with the help of a satellite in Australia.
The legendary Voyager 2 probe is flying through interstellar space approximately 19 billion kilometers from Earth. NASA engineers lost contact with her after they accidentally sent her the wrong instruction to turn her antenna away from Earth. Even though the device with which the probe “hears” signals from Earth deviated by only two percent, it was enough to make the space traveler stop talking to the space agency. NASA is now searching for her possible stray signals with the help of the space complex in Canberra, Australia. However, due to the huge distance, it takes over eighteen hours for its signal to reach Earth.
According to NASA The Guardian she stated, that Voyager 2 is unlikely to be found this way. However, the agency will also be bombarding the probe’s vicinity with the right command in the coming week from Canberra in the hope that the device will pick it up. Otherwise, it will have to wait until October, when the probe will automatically reset and should resume communication with Earth. In any case, scientists expect to finally lose contact with the space traveler at the end of this decade.
Voyager 2 was launched by NASA in 1977, originally its mission was to last only twelve years. According to the US space agency, it is the only probe to fly past Uranus, where it discovered ten new moons and two rings of this gas giant. It reached interstellar space in 2018. The sister probe Voyager 1 is still in contact with Earth, now almost 24 billion kilometers away.
2023-08-01 14:33:57
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