NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has come up with a new development about the Voyager 2 spacecraft it sent into space. According to the announcement made earlier today, Voyager 2 is unable to receive commands as it triggers a change in antenna orientation. This prevents the spacecraft from transmitting data to Earth. Here are the details!
The Voyager 2 antenna is facing a 2-degree shift!
NASA launched the unmanned spacecraft Voyager 2 into space in 1977. The original purpose of the Voyager mission was to gather information from Jupiter and Saturn. According to news from the space agency earlier today, things are not going well. According to NASA’s statement, a sequence of commands triggered a 2-degree change in the antenna orientation of the spacecraft.
In its statement, NASA stated that this trigger prevented the Voyager spacecraft from receiving commands and transmitting data to Earth. The agency said the glitch disrupted the probe’s ability to communicate with ground antennas operated by the Deep Space Network (DSN). He also explained that the vehicle could not receive commands from the mission team on Earth.
NASA states that it has programmed Voyager 2’s antenna to reset its direction multiple times each year to keep it pointing towards Earth. This process especially helps to re-establish lost connection and resume routine work. The next reset will be done after 79 days.
Despite the said lack of communication, the team is pretty confident that Voyager 2 will stay in the planned orbit. However, the space agency stated that Viyager 1, which is about 24 billion kilometers from Earth, is operating normally.
This Voyager 2 is located approximately 19.9 billion kilometers from Earth. It’s also constantly moving deeper into interstellar space. Voyager 1 is also the furthest man-made object from Earth.
So, what do you think about the NASA Voyager 2 spacecraft? Do not forget to share your views with us in the comments section!
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