--- title: "NASA Spacecraft Recovers from Glitch 11.5 Billion Miles From Earth" description: "NASA's Voyager 2, currently in interstellar space billions of miles from Earth, has recovered from a serious glitch it experienced in late January." date: "2020-03-04" modified: "2020-03-04" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-spacecraft-recovers-glitch-voyager2" categories: - "NASA" - "Science & Energy" - "Space" tags: - "Interstellar" - "interstellar space" - "NASA" - "the digest" - "voyager" - "voyager 2" --- # NASA Spacecraft Recovers from Glitch 11.5 Billion Miles From Earth ![NASA's Voyager 2, currently in interstellar space billions of miles from Earth, has recovered from a serious glitch it experienced in late January.]() *\Image: NASA/Victor Tangermann\* ## Interstellar Glitch NASA's Voyager 2, initially launched in 1977 to study our star system's outer planets, is currently in interstellar space billions of miles from Earth. In January, the probe experienced a serious glitch that affected a host of crucial scientific instruments. But luckily, the record-breaking spacecraft is back online. "The five operating science instruments, which were turned off by the spacecraft's fault protection routine, are back on and returning normal science data," NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab wrote in [an update](). ## Power Supply Voyager 2 currently is racing through interstellar space at a distance of about 11.5 billion miles (18.5 billion kilometers) from Earth. That means any communications take 17 whole hours to reach it, according to NASA — and another 17 to make it back. Understandably, that's making the task of fixing the spacecraft's software very tricky. The glitch was caused by a "fault protection software routine" after Voyager 2 failed to calibrate itself by spinning around its axis on January 25. Two systems were left running at relatively high levels of power, causing the spacecraft to "overdraw its available power supply." ## Bye, Sun In December 2018, 40 years after it was launched into space, Voyager 2 became the [second human-made object]() to exit the heliosphere, the Sun's protective bubble around the Solar System. Its twin spacecraft Voyager 1 was the first, reaching interstellar space in 2012. And Voyager 1 is glad to have its twin back online, the space agency joked. "All right now, baby, it’s all right now! My twin, Voyager 2, is back to normal operations," [tweeted]() NASA's official Voyager account. **READ MORE:** [NASA's Voyager 2 survives glitch, gets back to interstellar science]() \[*CNET*\] **More on Voyager:** *[The Voyager Probes Are Running Low on Power]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()