I have so many questions about what just happened with Voyager 2. But let's review:

On August 20, 1977, Voyager 2 was launched from Earth.

In December 1977, it entered the asteroid belt.

In June 1978, its main radio receiver failed. Since then it's been using the backup receiver!

On July 9, 1979, it flew past many of Jupiter's moons, made its closest approach to Jupiter, and took tons of beautiful pictures.

On August 26, 1981 it shot past Saturn and took tons of beautiful pictures.

On August 25, 1989 it shot past Neptune and took tons of beautiful pictures.

On November 5, 2018 it crossed the heliopause and entered interstellar space, 120 times farther from the Sun than we are.

On July 18, 2023, it overtook Pioneer 10 and became the second farthest man-made object from the Sun.

3 days later, some idiot sent a command that pointed its high gain antenna 2 degrees away from Earth. HOW EXACTLY DID THIS HAPPEN?

On August 4, 2023, NASA used its most high-powered transmitter to successfully command Voyager 2 to reorient towards Earth, resuming communications. HOW WAS THAT POSSIBLE?

Voyager 2 is now 133 AU away. How can you "shout" across such a distance and attract the attention of someone who is not looking in your direction? That's very far. It takes light about 18 hours to travel that far.

@johncarlosbaez Security Now covers some of this in episode 933

https://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm

"A series of planned commands sent to NASA’s Voyager 2 on July 21St inadvertently
caused the antenna to point 2 degrees away from Earth. As a result, Voyager 2 is currently
unable to receive commands or transmit data back to Earth---

--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

GRC | Security Now! Episode Archive  

Security Now! Weekly Internet Security Podcast. This week describing the newly revealed SockStress TCP stack vulnerabilities.

@BigMalCampbell - thanks! But I really want to know is how someone screwed up the "series of planned commands". NASA needs to analyze this mistake to reduce the chance of it happening again.
@johncarlosbaez @BigMalCampbell it may have been commands to steer the antenna as the Earth orbits around the Sun?