Canberra transmission antenna repair completed… Command can be sent
Communication with the space probe’Voyager 2’flying outside the solar system 18.8 billion km from Earth resumed after 11 months.
The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 23rd (local time) that the work on improving the performance of a large 70m radio antenna at the base station in Canberra, Australia, which was in charge of contacting the Voyager 2 and the district control office, has been completed.
As a result, the NASA’s command transmission for the Voyager 2, which had been suspended for 11 months after the antenna performance improvement work started in March last year, became possible again.
The survey data sent by the Voyager 2 could be received using three 34m radio antennas even during the antenna performance improvement work.
However, because the small antenna does not have a transmission function, it is explained that various commands to control the Voyager 2 could not be transmitted.
NASA said it had sent a test message to the Voyager 2 in October last year, when work on improving the performance of the large 70-meter antenna was in the final stage.
Voyager 2 was programmed to hibernate itself if it did not receive orders from Earth for a long period of time, so it sent a simple test message to prevent hibernation.
The Voyager 2, which continues its exploration activities without any major problems, was launched in 1977 along with the twin probes Voyager 1 at full full moon intervals.
Human-made aircraft are exploring the farthest space.
It only takes 35 hours to communicate with Voyager 2.
It takes 17 hours and 35 minutes for data sent from one side to arrive at the other.
NASA predicts that Voyager 2 will operate over the next four to eight years.
/yunhap news
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