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Tom Yossarian Joad

(19,211 posts)
Sun Feb 9, 2020, 02:11 AM Feb 2020

NASA brings Voyager 2 fully back online, 11.5 billion miles from Earth

In an incredible feat of remote engineering, NASA has fixed one of the most intrepid explorers in human history. Voyager 2, currently some 11.5 billion miles from Earth, is back online and resuming its mission to collect scientific data on the solar system and the interstellar space beyond.

On Wednesday, February 5 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, NASA's Voyager Twitter account gave out the good news: Voyager 2 is not only stable, but is back at its critical science mission.

"My twin is back to taking science data, and the team at @NASAJPL is evaluating the health of the instruments after their brief shutoff," the account tweeted.

Voyager 2 is sister craft to Voyager 1. Both have been traveling through the solar system — and now beyond it — for the last four decades. Together, they have transformed our understanding of our stellar neighborhood and are already revealing unprecedented information about the interstellar space beyond the Sun's sphere of influence.

https://www.inverse.com/science/nasa-brings-voyager-2-fully-back-online-11.5-billion-miles-from-earth?utm_campaign=inverse&utm_content=1581096657&utm_medium=owned&utm_source=facebook


26 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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NASA brings Voyager 2 fully back online, 11.5 billion miles from Earth (Original Post) Tom Yossarian Joad Feb 2020 OP
Amazing. CentralMass Feb 2020 #1
YEA science RGinNJ Feb 2020 #2
Have a heart! PJMcK Feb 2020 #6
K&R! Excellent news! Rhiannon12866 Feb 2020 #3
That is wonderful news. Dem2theMax Feb 2020 #4
freaking nerds Skittles Feb 2020 #5
Cool. Good to hear. 40some year old technology too. yonder Feb 2020 #7
V'ger! murielm99 Feb 2020 #8
Are we showing our age by knowing this? Tom Yossarian Joad Feb 2020 #14
Yes. murielm99 Feb 2020 #16
LOL! +1 Tom Yossarian Joad Feb 2020 #17
Count me in. She will always be V'ger to me! hedda_foil Feb 2020 #23
How in the world? videohead5 Feb 2020 #9
Plutonium-238 thermoelectric generator. eppur_se_muova Feb 2020 #15
I read that after videohead5 Feb 2020 #19
Fantastic! burrowowl Feb 2020 #10
Incredible! Coventina Feb 2020 #11
Spectacular! kairos12 Feb 2020 #12
No truth to the conspiracy theory that Voyager 2 is actually in a garage in Encino. Sneederbunk Feb 2020 #13
11.5 Billion Miles!!!! That is freaking far! So if NASA sends a signal, how long does it take to Fla Dem Feb 2020 #18
I get about 17.14 hours... Wounded Bear Feb 2020 #20
Seriously. I thought it would be days. Fla Dem Feb 2020 #21
See the link to DSN, below. Gives you the times and distance in real-time. KY_EnviroGuy Feb 2020 #25
How long did it take to get the signal back from Voyager? sakabatou Feb 2020 #22
NASA web site to monitor their progress and signals.... KY_EnviroGuy Feb 2020 #24
So very Cool - we gotta hope there is a smarter species somewhere that can get us out of this mess. walkingman Feb 2020 #26

burrowowl

(17,606 posts)
10. Fantastic!
Sun Feb 9, 2020, 05:08 AM
Feb 2020

The Voyagers have been wonderful sending back pictures and data. I remember when they were launched.

Fla Dem

(23,352 posts)
18. 11.5 Billion Miles!!!! That is freaking far! So if NASA sends a signal, how long does it take to
Sun Feb 9, 2020, 12:43 PM
Feb 2020

reach Voyager 2?

11.5 Billion. Just as a reference, it's estimated from our Sun to pluto the distance is 7.4 billion miles.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
25. See the link to DSN, below. Gives you the times and distance in real-time.
Mon Feb 10, 2020, 06:35 AM
Feb 2020

Just click on VGR1 or VGR2 to see the data.

KY...............

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
24. NASA web site to monitor their progress and signals....
Mon Feb 10, 2020, 06:32 AM
Feb 2020
Deep Space Network

Link: https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html

Find and click on "VGR1" or "VGR2" to see details. Note that if the shading of the antenna symbol is very light, the satellite is currently out of view.

Current data:
SPACECRAFT NAME: Voyager 1
RANGE: 22.23 billion km
ROUND-TRIP LIGHT TIME: 1.72 days
ANTENNA NAME: DSS 14
AZIMUTH: 84.62 deg
ELEVATION: 13.52 deg
WIND SPEED: 36.42 km/hr

DATA
DATA RATE: 160.00 b/sec
FREQUENCY: 8.42 GHz
POWER RECEIVED: -156.26 dBm (2.36 x 10-22 kW)


SPACECRAFT NAME: Voyager 2
RANGE: 18.51 billion km
ROUND-TRIP LIGHT TIME: 1.43 days
ANTENNA NAME: DSS 43
AZIMUTH: 199.78 deg
ELEVATION: 8.94 deg
WIND SPEED: 15.43 km/hr

DATA
DATA RATE: 159.00 b/sec
FREQUENCY: 8.42 GHz
POWER RECEIVED: -156.13 dBm (2.44 x 10-22 kW)


See, us engineers ain't all bad....... .........
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