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CTOnews.com NASA lost contact with Voyager 2, nearly 20 billion kilometers from Earth, on July 21, and now the agency has received a "heartbeat signal" from the probe, proving that it is still operational, but communication with the probe has not been fully restored.

Voyager 2, launched in 1977, has been traveling toward the outer edges of the solar system and interstellar space, making it the second-farthest man-made spacecraft from Earth after its sister Voyager 1, which is nearly 24 billion kilometers away. CTOnews.com understands that several of Voyager 2's scientific instruments, including magnetometers and cosmic ray detectors, are still functioning and sending data back to Earth 46 years after launch.

But on July 21, NASA's control center sent a series of commands that unexpectedly reoriented the probe, causing its antenna to deflect 2 degrees from Earth. This means that the probe's signal cannot reach the satellite antenna on the ground, and the operator cannot send any instructions to redirect it to us.

Fortunately, they haven't lost touch completely. On July 31, NASA detected a weak "carrier signal" from Voyager 2. Normally, this signal would contain real-time data from the detector if the antenna were aimed at Earth, but since the antenna was not aimed, the signal strength was insufficient to extract any information.

"We received a 'heartbeat' signal from the vehicle…so we know the vehicle is alive and operational," Suzanne Dodd, Voyager program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said in a statement sent to New Scientist magazine.

Although the signal capture was unexpected, it is not surprising that the aircraft itself did not have problems. After all, it has been flying for 46 years.

"We are now generating a new command to try to point the vehicle's antenna at Earth," Dowd said,"but the chances of success are low. "

Even if that doesn't work, it's not without hope-Voyager 2 automatically resets its orientation several times a year in case something like this happens. The next automatic reset will take place on October 15, when communications should resume. Until then, the vehicle's operator will continue to try to turn it around and continue to monitor the signal.

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