Voyager 2: Nasa loses contact with record-breaking probe after sending wrong command

Nasa has mislaid interaction with its Voyager 2 probe billions of miles distant from Earth aft mistakenly severing interaction with it, the abstraction bureau has revealed.

Last month, the spacecraft - exploring abstraction since 1977 - was sent the incorrect command, tilting its antenna to constituent 2 degrees distant from Earth.

As a result, the probe has stopped receiving commands oregon sending data.

Nasa said it hopes connection volition resume erstwhile the probe is owed to reset successful October.

Voyager 2 is much than 12.3 cardinal miles (19.9 cardinal km) from Earth, wherever it is hurtling astatine an estimated 34,390mph (55,346km/h) done interstellar abstraction - the abstraction betwixt the stars.

Since 21 July, the pioneering probe has been incapable to person commands oregon nonstop backmost information to Nasa's Deep Space Network - an array of elephantine vigor antennae crossed the satellite - and the spacecraft is not receiving commands from crushed controllers.

However, determination is anticipation for the probe, astir 46 years into its mission.

The abstraction bureau said connected Monday its immense crockery successful Australia's capital, Canberra, was trying to observe immoderate stray signals from Voyager 2. It takes much than 18 hours for a awesome to scope Earth from truthful acold away.

The antenna volition besides bombard Voyager 2's country with the close command, successful the anticipation it makes interaction with the probe, said Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Voyager missions.

Otherwise, Voyager 2 is programmed to reset its predisposition aggregate times each twelvemonth to support its antenna pointing astatine Earth. The adjacent reset is owed connected 15 October, which Nasa says "should alteration connection to resume".

In the meantime, Nasa expects the spacecraft laden with subject instruments to stay connected its planned trajectory done the universe.

Voyager 2 and its duplicate Voyager 1 are the lone spacecraft ever to run extracurricular the heliosphere, the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields generated by the Sun. They reached interstellar abstraction successful 2018 and 2012 respectively.

The probes were designed to instrumentality vantage of a uncommon alignment of outer planets, which occurs astir each 176 years, to research Jupiter and Saturn.

Voyager 2 is the lone spacecraft ever to alert by Neptune and Uranus, portion Voyager 1 is present astir 15 cardinal miles distant from Earth, making it humanity's astir distant spacecraft.

Each spacecraft carries a Golden Record with Earth's sounds, pictures, and messages intended to pass a communicative of our satellite to extra-terrestrials.