Nasa hears ‘heartbeat’ from Voyager 2 probe after contact was lost
- A command sent in error had caused the spacecraft’s antenna to point two degrees away from Earth, severing communications with mission control
- A last-ditch attempt made with the help of the Deep Space Network has detected a signal from Voyager 2, showing it is still operating
Nasa’s distant Voyager 2 probe has sent a “heartbeat” signal to Earth after mission control mistakenly cut contact, the US space agency said Tuesday.
Launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets and serve as a beacon of humanity to the wider universe, it is currently more than 19.9 billion kilometres (12.3 billion miles) from our planet – well beyond the solar system.
A series of planned commands sent to Voyager 2 on July 21 “inadvertently caused the antenna to point two degrees away from Earth”, Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said in a recent update.
This left it unable to send data or receive commands to its mission control – a situation that was not expected to be resolved until it conducted an automated reorientation manoeuvre on October 15.
But on Tuesday, Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd said the team enlisted the help of the Deep Space Network – an international array of giant radio antennas, plus a few that orbit Earth – in a last-ditch effort to re-establish contact sooner.
To their surprise, “this was successful in that we see the ‘heartbeat’ signal from the spacecraft”, she said. “So we know the spacecraft is alive and operating. This buoyed our spirits.”
