Nasa has lost contact with its Voyager 2 probe billions of miles away from Earth after sending it the wrong command, the space agency has revealed.
Last month, the spacecraft – exploring the universe since 1977 – tilted its antenna to point two degrees away from Earth after the mistake was made.
As a result, the probe has stopped receiving commands or sending data.
Voyager 2 is more than 12.3 billion miles (19.9 billion km) from Earth, where it is hurtling at an estimated 34,390mph (55,346km/h) through interstellar space – the space between the stars.
Since 21 July, the probe has been unable to receive commands or send back data to Nasa’s Deep Space Network – an array of giant radio antennae across the world – and the spacecraft is not receiving commands from ground controllers.
However, there is hope for the probe, nearly 46 years into its mission.
The space agency said on Monday its huge dish in Australia’s capital, Canberra, was trying to detect any stray signals from Voyager 2. It takes more than 18 hours for a signal to reach Earth from so far away.
The antenna will also bombard Voyager 2’s area with the correct command, in the hope it makes contact with the probe, said Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Voyager missions.
Otherwise, Voyager 2 is programmed to reset its orientation multiple times each year to keep its antenna pointing at Earth. The next reset is due on 15 October, which Nasa says “should enable communication to resume”.
Source: bbc.com
