00:00 NASA's spacecraft Voyager 2 is experiencing an unplanned communications pause and is currently
00:09 unable to receive commands or transmit data back to Earth.
00:14 Voyager 2 was one of two probes launched in the 1970s to explore planets in the outer
00:20 solar system.
00:21 "Voyager 1, which is almost 15.24 billion kilometers from Earth, continues to operate
00:27 normally," NASA said in a recent statement.
00:31 A routine sequence of commands has triggered a two-degree change in Voyager 2's antenna
00:35 orientation, preventing the iconic spacecraft from receiving commands or transmitting any
00:40 data back to Earth.
00:42 Voyager 2, one of two twin probes launched in the 1970s to explore planets in the outer
00:48 solar system, is located some 19.9 billion kilometers from Earth and is continuously
00:53 moving deeper into interstellar space.
00:58 The glitch has disrupted the probe's ability to communicate with ground antennas operated
01:03 by the Deep Space Network (DSN) and it is unable to receive commands from the mission
01:08 team on Earth.
01:09 This change has interrupted communications between Voyager 2 and the ground antennas
01:13 of the Deep Space Network.
01:15 This means that the data being sent by the spacecraft is no longer reaching the DSN and
01:20 the spacecraft is not receiving any commands from ground controllers.
01:24 The spacecraft's antenna is no longer pointing towards Earth and NASA hopes it is a temporary
01:28 problem.
01:29 Voyager 2 is programmed to reset its orientation multiple times each year to keep its antenna
01:36 pointing at Earth and the next reset will occur on October 15, which should enable communications
01:42 to resume.
01:43 Despite the current communication hiatus, the mission team remains confident that Voyager
01:48 2 will stay on its planned trajectory.
01:52 The Voyager probes were initially designed to explore the outer planets of our solar
01:55 system, but these missions have continued trucking along even as the twin spacecraft
02:00 entered into the interstellar void.
02:04 Voyager 1, launched in 1977, has the distinction of being the most distant human-made object
02:12 from Earth, and it is the first spacecraft to venture into the interstellar medium, penetrating
02:17 the boundary in 2012.
02:23 Voyager 2 followed a different trajectory that enabled it to perform a close flyby of
02:28 Neptune in 1989.
02:30 The spacecraft entered interstellar space in 2018 and is currently exploring this poorly
02:35 understood region.
02:36 [Outro Music]
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