NASA has picked up a ‘heartbeat’ signal from its Voyager-2 after it had lost contact with it. Last month, the voyager tilted its antenna two degrees away from earth after a wrong command was sent from earth. As a result, the voyager stopped receiving commands or sending data on July 21st.
On Tuesday, NASA announced that it has picked up signals from Voyager-2 during a regular scan of the sky.
Earlier on Monday, the space agency NASA said that its huge dish in Australia’s capital Canberra was trying to detect any stray signals from Voyager 2.
The spacecraft, Voyager 2, has been exploring the universe since 1977. It is more than 12.3 billion miles from Earth. And it takes 18 hours for signals to reach earth.
Nasa said the news confirms Voyager 2 is still broadcasting and is in ""good health.""
Earlier on Monday, the space agency said its huge dish in Australia's capital, Canberra, was trying to detect any stray signals from Voyager 2.
According to the Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the antenna has also been bombarding Voyager 2’s area with the correct command, in hope to regain contact with the spacecraft.
While fuller communication with the Voyager 2 is yet not established, Voyager 2 is programmed to reset its orientation every year to keep its antenna pointed at earth.
Voyager 2 was launched to study the outer solar system. There are only two spacecraft, Voyager-1 and Voyager-2 which operate outside the heliosphere. Heliosphere is a protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields generated by the sun.
They reached interstellar space in 2012 and 2018 respectively.
Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft ever to fly by planet Neptune and Uranus.
#NASA #Voyager #SpaceCraft #voyager2 #USA #SpaceNews #NASANews #HWNews