NASA mistakenly nudged Voyager 2 spacecraft's antenna causing the mother of all network connectivity issues [updated]

Engineers working on the Voyager spacecraft.
(Image credit: NASA, JPL)

Update: While trying to re-establish Contact with Voyager 2, NASA has been able to track down its "heartbeat" signal, which means the probe is still functional. 

"We enlisted the help of the [Deep Space Network] and Radio Science groups to help to see if we could hear a signal from Voyager 2," Voyager’s project manager said Suzanne Dodd told the Guardian. "This was successful in that we see the 'heartbeat' signal from the spacecraft. So, we know the spacecraft is alive and operating. This buoyed our spirits."

While this signal proves that Voyager 2 is still out there and still working in some capacity, it hasn't responded to recent commands, which take 18 hours to reach it.

Original story: NASA has lost contact with the Voyager 2 spacecraft after inadvertently turning its antenna .2 degrees away from Earth—a small misalignment made exponentially worse by the 12.3 billion miles that separate the ship from the planet Earth.

During a "series of planned commands" sent to the Voyager 2 spacecraft, NASA also made a small alignment change to the aerial direction. The seemingly tiny change has resulted in a loss of communication with the spacecraft, meaning it's not receiving NASA's commands and NASA isn't receiving the data it's sending back to Earth.

The Deep Space Network (DSN) is primarily responsible for communication with both the Voyager 2 and Voyager 1 spacecraft, an international network of antennas. The Voyager 2 mission primarily relies on the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex to receive data from the spacecraft. Back in 2018, when operating correctly, messages from the two spacecraft would take over 16.5 hours to reach Earth.

Alone in the universe for now, Voyager 2 will likely regain contact with Earth in October, when a regular failsafe engages.

The spacecraft is programmed to reset its antenna orientation multiple times a year to ensure a stable connection should anything happen to it. The next realignment is set to occur this October, and in the meantime the Voyager 2 is expected to carry on its mission in silence.

Voyager 2's mission is to study the outer planets and then depart the solar system. It's NASA's longest running mission, the spacecraft first being launched in 1977, 16 days prior to the launch of its twin, the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Since then, Voyager 2 has departed the heliosphere—the magnetic field around the solar system created by the Sun's solar wind—in 2018, and is now facing down cosmic rays in the murky blackness beyond. 

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is actually further out of our solar system than Voyager 2, despite departing later. This is due to the trajectory of both vessels. Voyager 1 was planned to reached Jupiter and Saturn first, ahead of the slower trajectory of Voyager 2, which would then allow Voyager 2 to get a closer look at Uranus and Neptune.

NASA has many publicly available images from the Voyager missions. They're absolutely awesome reminders of the vastness and varied solar system just out there.

Adorably, the Voyager missions have a Twitter account with first-person updates from the ships. 

NASA Twitter (X) account sends message pretending to be the Voyager 1 mission.

(Image credit: NASA)

You come back to us, Voyager 2, ya hear?!

Both Voyager spacecraft will eventually lose power. In an article in Scientific American, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist, Linda Spilker, says that these missions maybe could last into the 2030s, "if everything goes really well." In time, they will make their way around our galaxy, and likely continue to exist, more less intact, well after our Sun expires. 

Best SSD for gamingBest NVMe SSDBest external hard driveBest external SSD

Best SSD for gaming: The best speedy storage today.
Best NVMe SSD: Compact M.2 drives.
Best external hard drive: Huge capacities for less.
Best external SSD: Plug-in storage upgrades.

Jacob Ridley
Managing Editor, Hardware

Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog. From there, he graduated to professionally breaking things as hardware writer at PCGamesN, and would go on to run the team as hardware editor. He joined PC Gamer's top staff as senior hardware editor before becoming managing editor of the hardware team, and you'll now find him reporting on the latest developments in the technology and gaming industries and testing the newest PC components.

Read more
A still from a YouTube video showing a 2.5 billion pixel image of the Andromeda Galaxy shot by the Hubble Space Telescope.
It took a decade for NASA to piece together this 416,592,960 pixel image of the Andromeda galaxy and the key takeaway? 'Andromeda's a train wreck'
helldivers 2 angel's venture
A black hole just annihilated a beloved Helldivers 2 planet, and now it's on a direct course for Super Earth
Kerbal Space Program 2
NASA is hosting the first Twitch stream from space and I'm already picturing the chat with equal parts fear and excitement
Astronaut on alien planet
A recently launched and now terminally sideways Moon lander contains Imagine Dragon's Starfield song, which seems eerily fitting
Intuitive Machines' IM-2 Lunar Lander Successfully Commissioned and En Route to the Moon.
The moon is getting 4G before parts of my town
People watch from Canaveral National Seashore as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket is carrying 49 Starlink internet satellites for a broadband network.
So long and thanks for all the space junk: China-based Starlink competitor SpaceSail plans to have 15,000 satellites deployed by 2030, and it's not the only one with its eyes on the skies
Latest in Hardware
A woman wearing a VR headset with dramatic, colourful lighting across the background
'World’s smallest LEDs' could lead to accurately lit screens with 127,000 pixels per inch and much more immersive VR
The NES themed 8BitDo Retro mechanical gaming keyboard on a blue background
I love the 8BitDo Retro C64 keyboard but I'd pick its cheaper NES-themed model near its lowest price ever during Amazon's Big Spring Sale
The snazzy red and black HyperX Cloud Alpha wireless headphones float in a teal void. The microphone is attached to the headset.
The best wireless gaming headset is now even better in the Amazon Big Spring Sale, boasting a more than $50 discount
A chip being held up in an Intel fab
Intel is reportedly 'working to finalize commitments from Nvidia' as a foundry partner, suggesting gaming potential for the 18A node
Amazon box
Don't panic! The 'Do Not Send Voice Recordings' option Amazon just removed was only used by 0.03% of customers and they can still have it
Digital generated image of people surrounded by interactive transparent and glowing panels with data. Visualising smart technology, blockchain and artificial intelligence
Now I shall demand the cookies! Proposed new browsing agreement turns the tables and lets users dictate terms to websites
Latest in News
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened