NASA has lost contact with its Voyager 2 deep-space probe. On July 21, 2023, Mission Control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) sent a series of commands that "inadvertently" caused the robotic spacecraft to turn its antenna away from Earth.
Currently at a distance of 12.3 billion miles (19.9 billion km), Voyager 2 is so far away that a radio signal takes 18 hours and 21 minutes to reach it from Earth. It's also been 46 years since the probe was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, so its nuclear power source has diminished to the point where only the most vital systems are kept online to keep the craft running as long as possible.
For these and other related reasons, Voyager 2 has to be treated with particular care, much like dealing with an elderly patient. Surprises are a very unwelcome thing. Therefore, it was a very unpleasant turn of events when NASA's NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) stopped receiving signals from the craft and was unable to upload commands.
According to the space agency, Voyager 2 is still operational. After the dramatic pause, the DSN antennae were able to pick up the probe's carrier wave, a sort of electronic "heartbeat." However, engineers have still been unable to reestablish contact because the probe's antenna is pointed two degrees away from Earth.
Despite this, NASA is maintaining an air of optimism, stating that Voyager 2 is programmed to periodically reset its orientation to Earth and that the next reset is scheduled for October 15. Unfortunately, that is two and a half months from now, so there is doubtless a lot of finger crossing and knocking on wood that no other issues arise before then.
Source: NASA
Editor's note (Aug. 3, 2023): This article original stated Voyager 2 launched 56 years ago, when it launched 46 years ago. Our apologies for the error and thanks to those who pointed it out.
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