NASA has restored contact with Voyager 2. The spacecraft, which has been traveling away from Earth since 1977 and is now in interstellar space, lost contact with Earth recently after its antenna was inadvertently commanded to point in the wrong direction. NASA’s Deep Space Network was able to restore contact with the spacecraft this week, confirming that the second-most distant spacecraft from Earth is still operational. Pictured: An artist’s concept of Voyager 2. Image credit: NASA/GSFC Conceptual Image Lab.
NASA’s next New Frontiers mission could face an extended delay. The agency said this week that it may not be able to move ahead as planned with the next competition round of the New Frontiers planetary science mission class. The Senate’s proposed NASA budget allocates $700 million less than NASA requested for its planetary science programs in fiscal year 2024.
Argentina has joined the Artemis Accords. Argentina is the 28th country to sign the Accords, which set forth best practices and norms of behavior for space activities. This comes after a recent surge in new signees, including the Czech Republic and Spain in May and Ecuador and India in June.
A new report shows that most Americans believe in the importance of planetary defense. A new study from the Pew Research Center surveyed Americans’ attitudes toward space and found, among other results, that monitoring potentially dangerous asteroids ranks at the top of the public’s priority list for NASA. Other top priorities include climate change research and basic space science research