Giant ground-bound NASA antennas heard a “heartbeat” Tuesday indicating the Nineteen Seventies-vintage Voyager 2 probe over 12.3 billion miles from Earth was nonetheless operational.

The company had initially misplaced contact with the probe on July 21.

Planned instructions to the craft triggered its antenna to level two levels away from Earth. With an off-kilter antenna, Voyager information couldn't be despatched to Earth and Earth instructions couldn't be despatched to Voyager 2.

Engineers from NASA will now attempt to ship a command to the probe to get the craft to reorient its antenna to Earth, thereby reestablishing regular contact between Voyager 2 and floor management.

However, engineers will not be anticipating this primary attempt to work. If the distant fixes don't work, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory mentioned, automated programming for the probe will enable Voyager 2 to repair itself on Oct. 15.

“That is a long time to wait, so we’ll try sending up commands several times,” Voyager Project Manager Suzanne Dodd instructed the Associated Press.

Each sign, together with the tried fixes, takes over 18 hours one method to attain its goal.

The twin Voyager 1 probe, launched 16 days after Voyager 2 in 1977, has maintained regular communication with floor management. That machine is about 15 billion miles away from Earth.

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