Current:Home > ScamsEarth to Voyager: NASA detects signal from spacecraft, two weeks after losing contact -Wealth Evolution Experts
Earth to Voyager: NASA detects signal from spacecraft, two weeks after losing contact
Rekubit Exchange View
Date:2025-04-06 19:57:39
NASA has detected a signal from Voyager 2 after nearly two weeks of silence from the interstellar spacecraft.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Tuesday that a series of ground antennas, part of the Deep Space Network, had registered a carrier signal from Voyager 2 on Tuesday.
"A bit like hearing the spacecraft's 'heartbeat,' it confirms the spacecraft is still broadcasting, which engineers expected," JPL wrote in a tweet.
NASA said it lost contact with Voyager 2, which is traveling 12.3 billion miles away from Earth, on Friday after "a series of planned commands" inadvertently caused the craft to turn its antenna 2 degrees away from the direction of its home planet.
What might seem like a slight error had big consequences: NASA said it wouldn't be able to communicate with the craft until October, when the satellite would go through one of its routine repositioning steps.
Now that the scientists know Voyager 2 is still broadcasting, engineers will try to send the spacecraft a command to point its antenna back towards Earth. But program manager Suzanne Dodd told the Associated Press that they're not too hopeful this step will work.
"That is a long time to wait, so we'll try sending up commands several times" before October, Dodd said.
Even if Voyager 2 fails to re-establish communications until fall, the engineers expect it to stay moving on its planned trajectory on the edge of the solar system.
Voyager 2 traveled past Uranus and into interstellar space in Dec. 2018 — more than 40 years since it first launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. To this day, Voyager 2 remains only one of two human-made objects to have ever flown past Uranus.
Its primary mission was to study the outer solar system, and already, Voyager 2 has proved its status as a planetary pioneer. Equipped with several imaging instruments, the spacecraft is credited with documenting the discovery of 16 new moons, six new rings and Neptune's "Great Dark Spot."
Voyager 2 is also carrying some precious cargo, like a message in a bottle, should it find itself as the subject of another world's discovery: A golden record, containing a variety of natural sounds, greetings in 55 languages and a 90-minute selection of music.
Last month's command mix-up means Voyager 2 is not able to transmit data back to Earth, but it also foreshadows the craft's inevitable end an estimated three years from now.
"Eventually, there will not be enough electricity to power even one instrument," reads a NASA page documenting the spacecraft's travels. "Then, Voyager 2 will silently continue its eternal journey among the stars."
Voyager 2's sister spacecraft, Voyager 1, meanwhile, is still broadcasting and transmitting data just fine from a slightly further vantage point of 15 billion miles away.
veryGood! (7)
Related
- Megan Fox's ex Brian Austin Green tells Machine Gun Kelly to 'grow up'
- US retail sales ticked up last month in sign of ongoing consumer resilience
- Election officials prepare for threats with panic buttons, bulletproof glass
- Sean Diddy Combs Indictment: Authorities Seized Over 1,000 Bottles of Baby Oil During Home Raid
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Officials release new details, renderings of victim found near Gilgo Beach
- How small businesses can recover from break-ins and theft
- North Carolina braces for more after 'historic' rainfall wreaks havoc across state
- Scoot flight from Singapore to Wuhan turns back after 'technical issue' detected
- Emily Gold, teen dancer on 'America's Got Talent,' dead at 17
Ranking
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- Scroll Through TikTok Star Remi Bader’s Advice for Finding Your Happiness
- Are Demonia Boots Back? These ‘90s Platform Shoes Have Gone Viral (Again) & You Need Them in Your Closet
- WNBA's Caitlin Clark Celebrates Boyfriend Connor McCaffery's Career Milestone
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Northern lights forecast: These Midwest states may catch Monday's light show
- US retail sales ticked up last month in sign of ongoing consumer resilience
- Wisconsin QB Tyler Van Dyke to miss rest of season with knee injury, per reports
Recommendation
Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
iPhone 16, new Watch and AirPods are coming: But is Apple thinking differently enough?
Railroads and regulators must address the dangers of long trains, report says
'He didn't blink': Kirk Cousins defies doubters to lead Falcons' wild comeback win vs. Eagles
Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
Legally Blonde’s Ali Larter Shares Why She and Her Family Moved Away From Hollywood
Major companies abandon an LGBTQ+ rights report card after facing anti-diversity backlash
Sean Diddy Combs Charged With Sex Trafficking and Racketeering Hours After New York Arrest