One wrong command and NASA's Voyager 2 goes dark in interstellar space

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is searching for its missing Voyager 2 spacecraft after its flight controllers on Earth accidentally sent out a wrong command more than a week ago.

The command prompted the Voyager to shift its communication signal a mere 2 per cent, which ended up cutting off the communications.

"A series of planned commands sent to NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft on July 21 inadvertently caused the antenna to point 2 degrees away from Earth. As a result, Voyager 2 is currently unable to receive commands or transmit data back to Earth," Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA's lab that operates the spacecraft, said in a statement Friday (July 28).

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NASA said Monday its huge antenna in Canberra was actively searching for any stray signals that might come from Voyager 2. The Guardian reported that it takes more than 18 hours for a signal to travel from Voyager 2 to Earth, given it is located more than 19bn km away from our home planet.

What is NASA doing to recover the lost signals?

The US space agency has said it will bombard Voyager 2’s vicinity with the correct command so that it hits the mark if the signal manages to reach the spacecraft.

The signals will be sent from Canberra’s antenna in the coming weeks, said Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

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JPL reports that despite a temporary communication setback, Voyager 2 has a design that allows it to reset its orientation multiple times a year to realign its antenna with Earth. The next reset on October 15 is expected to restore communication.

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“The mission team expects Voyager 2 to remain on its planned trajectory during the quiet period,” the statement from JPL added.

More about Voyager 2

Launched on August 20, 1977, Voyager 2 is currently positioned more than 19.9 billion kilometres from Earth, residing in interstellar space—the area between our Sun's heliosphere and the astrospheres of other stars.

NASA's Voyager 2 holds the distinction of being the second spacecraft to venture into space between stars. It achieved this feat on December 10, 2018, joining its twin, Voyager 1, as the only human-made objects to explore the space between stars.

Remarkably, Voyager 1, located nearly 24bn km away from Earth, continues to operate flawlessly without any issues.

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