zlacker

It's not really hypothetical: losing communication with stuff in space is a very common failure mode and a huge amount of the system design is focused on making it as unlikely as possible (generally the radio system gets a huge priority in almost everything and there are a lot of failsafes built at every level to make it possible to reestablish communication if anything disrupts it).

>>rcxdud+(OP)
Indeed. Voyager 2 has in fact been listening via its backup receiver since 1978.

>>rcxdud+(OP)
I was amused to learn that if modern satellites lose contact with earth, they go into "safe mode": pointing towards sun, solar panels fully deployed, everything else except telemetry, radio, and temperature management disabled, waiting for further instructions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safe_mode_in_spacecraft

Imagine deploying a billion dollar piece of hardware and hoping that it has enough intelligence to keep itself from burning up before you can reestablish contact!