The US space agency Nasa has been able to restore contact with the “Voyager 2” spacecraft. After around two weeks without contact, all communication is running again – thanks to “some quick thinking and a lot of cooperation,” said NASA on Friday (local time). The spacecraft is functioning normally and is still on its predicted route.
An “interstellar scream” helped, according to NASA. A space communication station in Canberra, Australia, sent the probe a signal over a distance of around 20 billion kilometers and around 19 hours to orient its antenna back to earth. 37 hours later, the confirmation came back that the action had worked. Contact was lost when a series of scheduled commands on July 21 accidentally caused the spacecraft’s antenna to be pointed two degrees away from Earth.
“Voyager 1” (in German: traveler) was launched on September 5, 1977, “Voyager 2” on August 20, 1977. Both probes are unmanned. The probes were intended to explore planets in the outer solar system – but eventually even flew beyond the limits of the solar system.
