NASA Hears ‘Heartbeat’ of Voyager 2 After Losing Communication

The Voyager mission team at NASA has achieved a remarkable feat by reestablishing contact with the Voyager 2 spacecraft after losing communication.

The spacecraft, which has been exploring the cosmos for nearly 46 years, encountered a setback when commands sent on July 21 accidentally caused its antenna to shift 2 degrees away from Earth.

This misalignment left Voyager 2 unable to receive commands from mission control or transmit data back to Earth from its distant location, approximately 12.3 billion miles (19.9 billion kilometres) in interstellar space.

Undeterred by the challenge, NASA enlisted the help of the Deep Space Network (DSN) and Radio Science groups to track down the lost signal.

Suzanne Dodd, Voyager’s project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, expressed delight at the team’s success in detecting the spacecraft’s “heartbeat” signal using the international array of massive radio antennas provided by the DSN. This discovery confirmed that Voyager 2 is still operational, boosting the team’s spirits.

With the spacecraft situated at such an immense distance from Earth, it takes approximately 18.5 hours for signals to travel one way across the solar system to reach Voyager 2.

Despite the odds, the mission team is making valiant efforts to regain communication. They are generating a new command to attempt to realign the spacecraft’s antenna towards Earth, although they acknowledge that the success rate is uncertain.

The communication attempt is akin to “shouting” into the cosmos, an effort to grab Voyager 2’s attention even if its antenna is not optimally oriented to receive the signals.

While the spacecraft has been programmed to periodically reorient its antenna to face Earth, the team is eager to reestablish communication sooner rather than later.

The next scheduled reset is on October 15, but they plan to try sending up commands multiple times before that date to expedite the process.

Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, launched in 1977, have had their share of challenges as they continue their explorations in space. To conserve power and prolong their missions, some instruments have been deactivated. Yet, they remain valuable assets in the scientific community, especially as the only spacecraft to venture beyond the heliosphere, the sun’s magnetic fields, and particles that extend far beyond Pluto’s orbit. Voyager 1, nearly 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometres) away from Earth, continues to communicate with the DSN as it sails through interstellar space.

The success of reestablishing communication with Voyager 2 not only reaffirms the spacecraft’s resilience but also underscores the dedication and ingenuity of the Voyager mission team at NASA. As they forge ahead, these venerable probes will continue to unravel the mysteries of uncharted interstellar territory, providing invaluable data to enrich our understanding of the cosmos.