Taken out of commission in tandem with the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the DSS43 satellite dish in Canberra, Australia will be up and running once again this Friday. The DSS43 is the only mode of communication between Earth and the Voyager 2 probe, which has been roaming the cosmos since August 20, 1977. The dish itself has been in operation since 1973, and up until March of 2020 had seen few significant upgrades. Upcoming missions, including three spacecraft set to land on Mars this year, necessitated major improvements to the satellite.
The unfortunate timing of the scheduled DSS43 refurbishment made for an unanticipated hiccup in the upgrade plan — though a team of thirty scientists was supposed to oversee the reconstruction, that team was reduced to just four at a time for a number of months due to pandemic restrictions. Luckily, no significant issues arose from this disruption and the upgrades were completed as scheduled.
The 11 month lapse in contact with the probe posed significant risks to the Voyager mission; if anything had gone amiss during the blackout, NASA would have had no way to issue commands to keep it on course. A device aboard the probe, called a command loss timer, allowed the spacecraft to determine that it had lost contact with Earth and enter a form of electronic slumber until communication returned. By October 2020 the dish had enough functionality to send a test message to Voyager 2. Scientists made contact with the probe, issuing a series of commands for the first time since mid-March, and shortly after received a transmission confirming receipt of the call.
The 70-meter DSS43 satellite will soon have full functionality once again, and can continue receiving data from Voyager 2 until the projected end of the mission. Due to its distance and limited power supply, the spacecraft is expected to stay in contact with Earth for another four to eight years before continuing its ascent into the heavens alone.
