By Ankita Tripathy
Days after an accidental command resulted in a complete loss of connection with the storied spacecraft racing through interstellar space, the area outside the Solar System, NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) has successfully identified a carrier signal from the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
The probe’s antenna was shifted in response to the incorrect command, breaking contact. The problem started when a series of planned orders issued on July 21 accidentally moved Voyager 2’s antenna away from Earth by just 2 degrees.
The spacecraft was unable to receive any directives from mission control or relay any data back to Earth as a result of this ostensibly little adjustment.
The Deep Space Network (DSN) and Radio Science groups were consulted, according to NASA Project Manager Suzanne Dodd, to see whether they might pick up a signal from Voyager 2. “This was successful in that we see the ‘heartbeat’ signal from the spacecraft. So, we know the spacecraft is alive and operating. This buoyed our spirits,” she added.
After losing communication with the nearly 46-year-old spacecraft, the Voyager mission team at NASA was able to pick up a signal from Voyager 2. The Deep Space Network, a global network of enormous radio antennae that enables NASA to connect with missions around the universe, was used by the mission team to detect the spacecraft’s “carrier signal,” which pleased them.
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