"On 21 July, a series of planned commands sent to NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft inadvertently caused its antenna to point 2 degrees away from Earth," NASA said in a statement released on 28 July. As a result, Voyager 2 is currently unable to receive commands or send data back to Earth."

COMMUNICATION HOPED TO BE ESTABLISHED ON 15 OCTOBER

Stating that Voyager 2, which is 19.9 billion kilometres from Earth, is scheduled to reset several times a year to keep its antenna pointed at Earth, NASA said: "The next reset will take place on 15 October, which should ensure continued communication. The mission team hopes Voyager 2 will remain in its planned orbit during the quiet period." It was stated that NASA's giant antennas located near Canberra, the capital of Australia, will search for Voyager 2.

Voyager 2, which is 24 billion kilometres away from Earth and has lost contact with the working Voyager 1, was launched by NASA in 1977 to explore interstellar space.