Engineers regain full control over Voyager 2
A longshot effort by engineers has succeeded in re-establishing full communications with Voyager 2, launched in 1977 and flying outward at the edge of the solar system.
“The Deep Space Network used the highest-power transmitter to send the command (the 100-kw S-band uplink from the Canberra site) and timed it to be sent during the best conditions during the antenna tracking pass in order to maximize possible receipt of the command by the spacecraft,” Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd told AFP. This so-called “interstellar shout” required 18.5 hours traveling at light speed to reach Voyager, and it took 37 hours for mission controllers to learn whether the command worked, JPL said in a statement.
The probe began returning science and telemetry data at 12:29 am Eastern Time on August 4, “indicating it is operating normally and that it remains on its expected trajectory,” added JPL.
Based on a weak signal received earlier, engineers were confident that the spacecraft was functioning in good order despite the loss in communications, and would automatically re-orient itself properly when it did an automatic reset in October. This attempt however fixed things now.
Regardless, the spacecraft probably only has a few more more years of operations before its nuclear powered source finally runs out sometime after 2025.
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A longshot effort by engineers has succeeded in re-establishing full communications with Voyager 2, launched in 1977 and flying outward at the edge of the solar system.
“The Deep Space Network used the highest-power transmitter to send the command (the 100-kw S-band uplink from the Canberra site) and timed it to be sent during the best conditions during the antenna tracking pass in order to maximize possible receipt of the command by the spacecraft,” Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd told AFP. This so-called “interstellar shout” required 18.5 hours traveling at light speed to reach Voyager, and it took 37 hours for mission controllers to learn whether the command worked, JPL said in a statement.
The probe began returning science and telemetry data at 12:29 am Eastern Time on August 4, “indicating it is operating normally and that it remains on its expected trajectory,” added JPL.
Based on a weak signal received earlier, engineers were confident that the spacecraft was functioning in good order despite the loss in communications, and would automatically re-orient itself properly when it did an automatic reset in October. This attempt however fixed things now.
Regardless, the spacecraft probably only has a few more more years of operations before its nuclear powered source finally runs out sometime after 2025.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
whew …. command and reply time lag ? Team anxious much ?
Good job.
Amazing.
Continue onwards Voyager ! Don’t worry about the absolute loneliness and darkness.
Continue on.
The Little Spacecraft That Could
Hat Tip to the engineers that built the Voyager spacecraft. I remember the mission expectations offered at the time and they were fulfilled. The flyby photos of the outer planets on the grand tour were captivating. Future missions, now successful as well were spawned. Many still function today, and the wealth of new discoveries and the explosion of new questions continues exponentially. Thanks Bob for hosting this website.
Minor edit in last sentence: “ before its nuclear powered source”
Andi: Thank you again, as always.
Yippie!