this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2023
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NASA’s Voyager 2 has lost communication with Earth due to an unintentional shift in its antenna direction. The next programmed orientation adjustment on October 15 is expected to restore communication, while Voyager 1 continues to operate as usual.

A series of scheduled commands directed at NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft on July 21 led to an unintentional change in antenna direction. Consequently, the antenna moved 2 degrees off course from Earth, causing the spacecraft to lose its ability to receive commands or transmit data back to our planet.

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[–] foggy@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This assumes their understanding of what caused the problem is accurate.

Should it be ever so slightly imprecise, it could mean we lose contact forever.

[–] zalack@kbin.social 81 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

This is one of those things that sounds meaningful, but can be said about literally any problem in any system. Not all knowledge requires the same level of precision for confidence.

If the engineers at NASA who are familiar with the system say this is a known error state that will be fixed the next time the system designed to correct it fires on its set schedule, there's not a whole lot added by saying sure, but what if they're wrong?

It's just restating the table stakes of existence.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 59 points 1 year ago (2 children)

But what if I, armchair scientist on Lemmy, sees a flaw in the plan of some of the greatest engineers in the world? Doesn't the world deserve to know what I think about the communications system I just became aware of today?

[–] zalack@kbin.social 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Lol. The knee-jerk contrarianism online really gets under my skin, especially when it's towards experts.

Like yeah, sometimes experts are wrong or systems don't behave as expected. But framing that as some sort of erudite insight really bugs me.

"I hope the recovery system works!" doesn't need to be rewritten as "Mmm yes. But what these engineers haven't considered is the possibility that they are wrong".

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I had a laugh at this line:

It's just restating the table stakes of existence.

Brilliantly put. It's like saying to a stranger on an airplane, "If these pilots don't know how to fly, we are gonna die!"

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Plot twist... he is the lead engineer on the team.

[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

No but the experts could be right or wrong. Two possibilities so that means there's a 50/50 chance.

/s

[–] Resistentialism@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

I don't think I'm prepared to lose another space robot.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

You're right, internet stranger. I bet they have not considered the possibility that Voyager 2 might have been eaten by a space whale. Like why aren't the lame-stream fake news channels even discussing the space whale theory. Voyager 2 might even be intact inside the belly of the beast, and if NASA engineers haven't factored this new data into their calculations about how fast a space whale would float through space with the additional mass and inertia of a functional probe, the signal could be lost forever.

I challenge Neil Degrass Tyson to a debate about space whales and how much they would theoretically be able to swallow whole.