Eldorado Posted November 4, 2020 #1 Share Posted November 4, 2020 The only radio antenna that can command the 43-year-old spacecraft has been offline since March as it gets new hardware, but work is on track to wrap up in February. On Oct. 29, mission operators sent a series of commands to NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft for the first time since mid-March. The spacecraft has been flying solo while the 70-meter-wide (230-foot-wide) radio antenna used to talk to it has been offline for repairs and upgrades. Voyager 2 returned a signal confirming it had received the "call" and executed the commands without issue. Full monty at NASA: Link 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the frog Posted November 4, 2020 #2 Share Posted November 4, 2020 They were rugged ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toast Posted November 4, 2020 #3 Share Posted November 4, 2020 It got new hardware? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Posted November 5, 2020 #4 Share Posted November 5, 2020 22 hours ago, toast said: It got new hardware? Just repurposing older code. Thankfully keeping old tech in the loop for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tortugabob Posted November 7, 2020 #5 Share Posted November 7, 2020 Toast ....the Earth based antenna was upgraded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toast Posted November 7, 2020 #6 Share Posted November 7, 2020 1 hour ago, tortugabob said: Toast ....the Earth based antenna was upgraded. Which is a software related action, not a hardware related one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldorado Posted November 7, 2020 Author #7 Share Posted November 7, 2020 On 11/4/2020 at 3:36 PM, toast said: It got new hardware? "Engineers have also upgraded heating and cooling equipment, power supply equipment, and other electronics needed to run the new transmitters." From the article linked in the OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toast Posted November 7, 2020 #8 Share Posted November 7, 2020 2 minutes ago, Eldorado said: "Engineers have also upgraded heating and cooling equipment, power supply equipment, and other electronics needed to run the new transmitters." From the article linked in the OP. Means, hardware got software upgrade. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.A.T.1961 Posted November 7, 2020 #9 Share Posted November 7, 2020 "Among the upgrades to DSS43, as the dish is known, are two new radio transmitters. One of them, which is used to talk with Voyager 2, hasn't been replaced in over 47 years. Engineers have also upgraded heating and cooling equipment, power supply equipment, and other electronics needed to run the new transmitters." There is no mention of upgraded power output or sensitivity but you would have to assume they are better. If so this would extend coms link for maybe months or years, excluding a Voyager failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now