NASA loses contact with Voyager 2 probe

NASA lost contact with its Voyager 2 probe and potentially may not hear from it until October. Voyager 2 is located 12.4 billion miles from the Earth and is no longer able to receive commands or send data, CBS News reported. This is because a "series of planned commands" sent to the probe "inadvertently caused the antenna to point 2 degrees away from Earth," according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
NASA's Deep Space Network has picked up a heartbeat signal from the probe indicating that Voyager 2 is alive and well, per The Associated Press. The probe is set to reorient itself on October 15, which it is programmed to do multiple times a year to keep the antenna pointed at Earth. However, "that is a long time to wait, so we'll try sending up commands several times" before then, JPL project manager Suzanne Dodd told AP.
Voyager 2 was launched in 1977 along with Voyager 1 and became the first human-made probe to travel past Uranus in 2018. It is currently traversing interstellar space, or the space between stars, BBC wrote. Voyager 1 is being used to study Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and is still in contact with NASA.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Devika Rao has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022, covering science, the environment, climate and business. She previously worked as a policy associate for a nonprofit organization advocating for environmental action from a business perspective.
-
Female friendship in middle age, teachers versus fascists and Covid psychosis
the week recommends September books include Angela Flournoy's 'The Wilderness,' Randi Weingarten's 'Why Fascists Fear Teachers' and Patricia Lockwood's 'Will There Ever Be Another You'
-
'Total rat eradication in New York has been deemed impossible'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Florida wages crosswalk war on public displays of pride
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Gov. Ron DeSantis' campaign comes for colorful crosswalks, as Florida residents engage in guerrilla graffiti as a form of resistance
-
SpaceX breaks Starship losing streak in 10th test
speed read The Starship rocket's test flight was largely successful, deploying eight dummy satellites during its hour in space
-
Hurricanes are not exclusive to Earth. They can happen in space.
Under the radar These storms may cause navigational problems
-
Rabbits with 'horns' sighted across Colorado
speed read These creatures are infected with the 'mostly harmless' Shope papilloma virus
-
Why does the US want to put nuclear reactors on the moon?
Today's Big Question The plans come as NASA is facing significant budget cuts
-
Lithium shows promise in Alzheimer's study
Speed Read Potential new treatments could use small amounts of the common metal
-
Scientists discover cause of massive sea star die-off
Speed Read A bacteria related to cholera has been found responsible for the deaths of more than 5 billion sea stars
-
'Thriving' ecosystem found 30,000 feet undersea
Speed Read Researchers discovered communities of creatures living in frigid, pitch-black waters under high pressure
-
Answers to how life on Earth began could be stuck on Mars
Under the Radar Donald Trump plans to scrap Nasa's Mars Sample Return mission – stranding test tubes on the Red Planet and ceding potentially valuable information to China