NASA hears the "heartbeat" of the Voyager 2 probe again after losing contact due to human error

After an interruption of several days, NASA has resumed contact with Voyager 2, which is in deep space billions of kilometers from Earth.. Flight controllers accidentally sent the wrong command about two weeks ago and tilted the probe's antennae away from Earth, breaking contact.

NASA's Deep Space Network, which has antennas stationed around the world, has sensed a “heartbeat” that indicates the 46-year-old probe is performing well, project manager Suzanne Dodd said in an email Tuesday.

The news “lifted our spirits,” Dodd said.. Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California will now attempt to straighten Voyager 2's antennas again so they point back toward Earth.

If the command doesn't work – and the controllers doubt it will work – they will have to wait until October when the probe automatically restarts.. The antenna is deviated only by 2%. “That's a long time to wait, so we'll keep sending commands multiple times” until then, Dodd said.

Voyager 2 was launched in 1977, along with its identical twin Voyager 1, on a mission to explore exoplanets..

Voyager 1 is still working and communicating well. It is 24 billion kilometers (15 billion miles) from Earth, the most distant spacecraft to date.

Voyager 2 lags behind, being 19 billion kilometers (12 billion miles) from Earth. At that distance, each signal takes more than 18 hours to arrive in each direction.