zlacker

>>belter+(OP)
> "the antenna on the spacecraft had been pointing two degrees away from the Earth [...] left it without the ability to receive commands or transmit data [...] NASA reckons the situation is temporary [...]"

I wonder how it's temporary. Does the probe have a re-targeting function? The answer is in the original statement:

> "Voyager 2 is programmed to reset its orientation multiple times each year to keep its antenna pointing at Earth; the next reset will occur on Oct. 15, which should enable communication to resume. The mission team expects Voyager 2 to remain on its planned trajectory during the quiet period."

>>nought+w4
I wonder why the reorientation is so infrequent? Is it a long process or a strain on hardware that you wouldn't want it to happen every day or even every month?

>>willia+D8
Reorienting requires using a reaction wheel or propellent to move yourself.

Propellent is finite, so you want to use it as rarely as possible.

A reaction wheel is by itself infinite (assuming it doesn't break), but eventually it saturates and you need to desaturate it, which basically means spinning the wheel the other way while spending propellent to maintain position.

All of this is to say, reorientation is an expensive process especially if refueling isn't an option.