After 45 years of travel to the far reaches of the solar system, the Voyager 2 spacecraft has lost contact with planet Earth because of an erroneous order from the Space Administration (NASA), which now scours space in search of the probe.
Traveling nearly 12,400 miles from Earth, Voyager 2 (launched in August 1977) is the furthest human-built object ever made... except for its sister, Voyager 1 (launched 16 days later, because planetary conditions made it advisable), which is already 14.900 billion miles away.
The probe travels at 34,000 miles per hour and is becoming more isolated (its signals take longer to reach Earth). In the past it has seen its contact cut off for technical reasons, to save energy (the ship was supposed to last five years and takes almost half a century) or due to breakdowns.
On Monday, NASA indicated that it has been left incommunicado again, specifically since last week, after its flight controllers were wrong to send a command that diverted its antenna from Earth. Although the movement was only 2%, it was enough to cut communications between the probe and its home planet.
Now NASA is trying to regain communication with a huge antenna in Canberra (Australia), but warns that it will be an arduous task with little chance of success.
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Illustration of Voyager 2.MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRA/Getty Images/Science Photo Libra
The antenna, which is part of NASA's deep space network, will bombard the area where Voyager 2 may be with radio signals next week in an attempt to adjust the signal from its antenna to redirect it back to Earth, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The signals will take 18 hours to reach that area due to the enormous distance.
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NASA said in any case that Voyager 2 will restart its systems automatically in October, and could readjust the antenna on its own to direct it toward Earth. Meanwhile he continues his journey, beyond the solar system already, through interstellar space.