NASA loses contact with probe in deep space for 47 years

Somebody really spaced out on this one.

NASA has lost contact with its deep space, Voyager 2 probe after giving the spacecraft an incorrect command two weeks ago.

On Tuesday, it was announced NASA had only first heard back from the vessel when a “heartbeat signal” was picked up by deep space network antennas massively positioned throughout Earth.

Learning that Voyager 2 — launched in 1977 to flyby our solar system’s outer, jovian planets — had a signal “buoyed our spirits” at NASA, project manager Suzanne Dodd wrote in an email, the Associated Press reported.

It’s now on flight controllers at NASA’s California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California to attempt spinning Voyager 2’s antenna — off kilter by an impactful 2% — so it can face the Earth again to better receive signals.

If unsuccessful, NASA doesn’t have high hopes at the moment, the only other option is an automatic spacecraft reset scheduled for October.

“That is a long time to wait, so we’ll try sending up commands several times” prior, Dodd added.

Still, NASA is approaching the situation with a sense of humor by sharing social media posts from the interstellar satellite’s twin companion, Voyager 1.

“You might have heard… Voyager 2 is taking a break from sending data until October. In the meantime, I’m out here, almost 15 billion miles (24 billion km) from Earth and doing fine! – V1.”

Voyager missions 1 and 2 were originally designed to explore our solar system’s outer planets — and beyond, per Encyclopedia Astronautica. The twin spacecraft’s development, launch and operations ran a budget of $865 million, along with an additional $30 million earmarked to see the probe through at least two years of interstellar research after making its planned encounter with Neptune.