Re:NASA mistakenly severs communication to Voyager 2
by bell-cot on Monday July 31, 2023 @02:08PM
(#36946529)
Voyager 2 has a direction radio antenna, not a laser producing a sharp-edged beam.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_2#Communications
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parabolic_antenna#Beamwidth
How about this antenna? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array
Or this one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-hundred-meter_Aperture_Sp...
In optimal orientation, Voyager's signal peaks at -160dBm when received on the 70m dishes. Now it's shooting 2 degrees off which means the signal misses earth by hundreds of millions of kilometres. What kind of magical high gain antenna do you envision that could still receive it, assuming money isn't a problem?