Voyager 2

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Voyager 2 spacecraft, which is venturing through space between stars, faces communication problems due to antenna misalignment.
  • As a result, it cannot receive commands or transmit data back to Earth.
• However, the US space agency is optimistic that the issue will be resolved during the next orientation reset scheduled for October.

ABOUT VOYAGER MISSION

• Voyager 2 is one of the farthest human-made objects in space, behind only its predecessor, Voyager 1.
• Launched on August 20, 1977, Voyager 2 is located more than 19.9 billion kilometres from Earth, in interstellar space – the region between our Sun’s heliosphere and the astrospheres of other stars.
• NASA’s Voyager 2 is the second spacecraft to explore space between stars.
• It accomplished this on December 10, 2018, joining its twin, Voyager 1, as the only human-made object to explore the space between stars.
• Voyager 2 impressive accomplishments include-
  • It is the only spacecraft to study all four of the solar system’s giant planets up close.
  • At Jupiter, Voyager 2 discovered a 14^th
  • It was the first human-made object to fly past Uranus, where it discovered 10 new moons and two new rings.
  • Voyager 2 was also the first human-made object to fly by Neptune, uncovering five moons, four rings, and a “Great Dark Spot.”
• Voyager 1, located nearly 24 billion kilometres away from Earth, continues to operate without any issues.
• NASA’s Voyager 1 was launched after Voyager 2, but because of a faster route, it exited the asteroid belt earlier than its twin, having overtaken Voyager 2 on Dec. 15, 1977.