The Voyager 2 probeOne of NASA’s most well-traveled spacecraft, has not been able to communicate with Earth for the past eight months. Voyager 2 was roaming alone on the edge of interstellar space, collecting data 11.6 billion miles from Earth and sending it back to us.

But we were unable to answer the phone and call back.

The only radio antenna that could communicate with the probe, Deep Space Station 43 (DSS43) in Australia, was offline as NASA completed a series of hardware upgrades. Some transmitters have not been replaced on the DSS43 for over 47 years. According to NASA. To test new hardware, the dish tested the Voyager 2 on October 29 with few orders. It was the first time since mid-March that a signal had been sent to the spacecraft.

Because the probe is so far away, the contact team had to wait more than 34 hours to respond.

Voyager 2 sure received the orders without issue and returned the “hello”.

Thankfully, Voyager 2 still seems to be unaware of all that it is Horrible things That has happened on Earth since March.

NASA’s deep space network allows Earth-linked scientists to communicate with spacecraft and spacecraft across the solar system. The network consists of three huge telescopes located in the United States, Spain and Australia.

But American and Spanish telescopes are unable to communicate with the Voyager 2 due to its trajectory. When the probe passed Triton, one of Neptune’s moon, it was launched from the plane of the solar system. If you think of the solar system as a plate, the probe is like a pea that rolled around and from the side of the potato and began to move toward Earth. From this location, northern hemisphere telescopes cannot transmit a signal – but DSS43 can.

Through the cosmic call, engineers and scientists can be confident that hardware upgrades have not messed with our ability to communicate with deep space probes.

“The connectivity test with Voyager 2 definitely tells us that things are on the right track with the work we’re doing,” said Brad Arnold, Deep Space Network project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The upgrades are due to be completed by 2021.

Even though the probe is now 43 years old, it continues to operate on a truck. A year ago, Voyager 2 Scientists have released new data collected by the probe as it passes through interstellar space. Earlier this year, before the DSS43, Voyager 2 was discontinued Suffered a bug that shut down her scientific instruments But he’s back online and ready to continue experimenting.