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NASA detects 'heartbeat' signal from Voyager 2 space probe

Late last week, NASA revealed that it had lost contact with Voyager 2 after it was discovered that errant computer commands severed contact with the probe, which was launched in 1977 on a mission to explore deep space. The probe's sister craft, Voyager 1, is similar in design and continues to operate normally on its deep-space trek. Photo illustration courtesy of NASA and JPL-Caltech
Late last week, NASA revealed that it had lost contact with Voyager 2 after it was discovered that errant computer commands severed contact with the probe, which was launched in 1977 on a mission to explore deep space. The probe's sister craft, Voyager 1, is similar in design and continues to operate normally on its deep-space trek. Photo illustration courtesy of NASA and JPL-Caltech | License Photo

Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The Voyager 2 space probe may have gone silent but it's still working as designed, scientists said Tuesday.

Although ground trackers temporarily have lost the ability to communicate with the probe more than 12 billion miles from Earth, NASA said Tuesday it has detected a "heartbeat" signal from the craft, revealing that it is operating just as it has for the past 46 years.

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NASA hopes to again make contact with the probe in October.

Suzanne Dodd, Voyager's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said Tuesday the space agency employed the help of NASA's Deep Space Network radio telescopes to detect the craft. The network's global array of antennas are used to monitor interplanetary space missions.

"This was successful in that we see the 'heartbeat' signal from the spacecraft. So, we know the spacecraft is alive and operating," Dodd said. "This buoyed our spirits."

Late last week, NASA revealed that it had lost contact with Voyager 2 after it was discovered that errant computer commands severed contact with the probe, which was launched in 1977 on a mission to explore deep space and serve as an ambassador for humanity for any alien life that might encounter it.

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The computer commands essentially told Voyager to point its antennas several degrees away from those receiving and sending data on Earth.

Voyager 2 will automatically rescan for Earth's antennas Oct. 15, officials said.

As Voyager 2 continues its interstellar trek, its twin probe, Voyager 1, is almost 15 billion miles from Earth and continues to operate normally.

Both craft carry the so-called "Golden Records," a type of time capsule intended to communicate to extraterrestrials who humans are and from where we come. The messages are embedded on 12-inch, gold-plated "phonograph records" containing sounds and images that illustrate the diversity of life on Earth.

Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to pass close to the two outermost planets in the solar system -- Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989.

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