Update: While trying to re-establish contact with Voyager 2, NASA was able to track its "heartbeat" signal.

"We enlisted the help of the [Deep Space Network] and Radio Science groups to see if we could hear signals from Voyager 2," Suzanne Dodd, Voyager's project manager, told The Guardian. 'Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd told The Guardian, "We're very excited about this. We now know that the probe is alive and working. This brightened our spirits."

This signal proves that Voyager 2 is still out there and working in some capacity, but it has not responded to recent commands that took 18 hours to reach it.

Original article NASA lost contact with Voyager 2 when it inadvertently deflected its antenna 0.2 degrees from Earth.

During a "series of planned commands" sent to the Voyager 2 spacecraft, NASA also made a small alignment change in the airborne direction. This seemingly small change resulted in a loss of communication with the spacecraft, and NASA did not receive any NASA commands, nor did NASA receive any data sent back to Earth by the spacecraft.

The Deep Space Network (DSN) is an international antenna network that is primarily responsible for communications with both the Voyager 2 and Voyager 1 spacecraft. The Voyager 2 mission relies primarily on the Canberra Deep Space Communications Facility to receive data from the spacecraft; as of 2018, when operating properly, messages from the two spacecraft take over 16.5 hours to reach Earth.

Voyager 2, alone in space for now, will likely regain contact with Earth in October, when routine failsafes are activated.

The spacecraft is programmed to reset the antenna orientation several times a year to ensure a stable connection in the unlikely event of a mishap. The next recalibration will take place in October of this year, during which time Voyager 2 is expected to carry out its mission in silence.

Voyager 2's mission is to leave the solar system after surveying the outer planets. Voyager 2 is NASA's longest-standing mission, having first launched in 1977, 16 days before the launch of its twin probe, Voyager 1. Since then, Voyager 2 left the heliosphere (the magnetic field around the solar system created by the sun's solar wind) in 2018 and now faces cosmic rays in the murky jet blackness beyond.

Voyager 1 is actually further out in the solar system than Voyager 2, even though it left later. This is due to the orbits of both vessels. Voyager 1 planned to reach Jupiter and Saturn before Voyager 2's slower orbit, allowing Voyager 2 to get a closer look at Uranus and Neptune.

NASA has a number of images from the Voyager mission. They remind us of the vast and diverse solar system out there.

Adorably, the Voyager mission has a Twitter account with first-person updates from the ship.

Voyager 2, come back!

Both Voyager spacecraft eventually lose power. In an article in Scientific American, Linda Spilker, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, stated that these missions may last into the 2030s "if all goes really well. In time, these missions will orbit our galaxy and will probably continue to exist intact after our sun disappears.