Feb 10, 2020 14:00:00

NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, which was active outside the solar system, shut down all observation equipment and what happened?

by

Doug Cornelius

NASA's Voyager 2 is an unmanned spacecraft that probes planets far away from the sun. The Voyager 2 suffered an unknown power shortage in the airspace 18 billion kilometers away from Earth, and all observation equipment was shut down. However, NASA has identified the cause and successfully restarted Voyager 2.

News | Voyager 2 Engineers Working to Restore Normal Operations
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7587

NASA brings Voyager 2 fully back online, 11.5 billion miles from Earth
https://www.inverse.com/science/nasa-brings-voyager-2-fully-back-online-11.5-billion-miles-from-earth

Voyager 2 is an unmanned space probe launched by NASA in 1977 to investigate the exoplanetary system of the solar system. He achieved a magnificent exploration of Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981, Uranus in 1986, and Neptune in 1989. After that, it continued to operate and continued exploration while floating in outer space.

Voyager 2 on December 10, 2018 heliosphere leave the. We have begun the first study of interstellar space in human history.

NASA's spacecraft `` Voyager 2 '' leaves the solar system and reaches `` interstellar space ''-gigazine

On January 25, 2020, Voyager 2, which had been operating continuously for more than 40 years, experienced an unknown power shortage. All observation equipment temporarily stopped in a space 18 billion kilometers away from Earth.

18 billion kilometers from the earth is a distance of about 17 hours for commands sent from the earth to reach Voyager 2, about 17 hours for the response to return, a total of 34 hours just to communicate . A specialized team of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) took a few days to grasp the state of Voyager 2 and found that the cause was `` unintended startup of two systems with high power consumption simultaneously '' Was. As a result, Voyager 2 ran out of power, the emergency system was activated, and it shifted to a mode in which only the minimum system was operated.

On January 18, 2020, the expert team gracefully shut down one of the systems that was over-consuming power and restarted the observation equipment.

Here's the skinny: My twin went to do a roll to calibrate the onboard magnetometer, overdrew power and tripped software designed to automatically protect the spacecraft.

2'S Power Voyager State Is Good And Instruments Are Back On. Resuming Science Soon. Https://T.Co/4buDM32bap Pic.Twitter.Com/4T856Lpxjm

— NASA Voyager (@NASAVoyager) January 29, 2020

On February 5, 2020, normal operation of all systems was confirmed. Voyager 2 has begun collecting data on the vast universe again.

Good vibes! Voyager 2 continues to be stable, and communications between Earth and the spacecraft are fine.

Twin Is Back My To Taking Science Data, And The Team At AttoNASAJPL Is Evaluating The Health Of The Instruments Following Their Brief Shutoff. Https://T.Co/LmsWQ7wPat Pic.Twitter.Com/xyhM1G8sTD

— NASA Voyager (@NASAVoyager) February 6, 2020

Voyager 2 is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric converter (RTG) , a type of nuclear battery. RTG, which converts the decay heat of radioactive materials into electricity, gradually consumes the radioactive material that is the fuel, so its output gradually decreases. Voyager 2 is therefore said to cease operation after five years, even if there were no accidents.

Inverse, who reported this news, exclaimed Voyager 2 as `` the greatest explorer in human history '' and acknowledged `` giving information about the space that can not be known otherwise '' Was.