NASA's Software Updates for Voyager 2: Protecting Thrusters and Tackling Glitches

NASA has sent a software update to Voyager 2, which is over 12 billion miles away, in order to prevent a repeat of the software issue that affected Voyager 1 last year. The update is like an "insurance policy" to keep the spacecraft operating for as long as possible. The patch took over 18 hours to reach Voyager 2, and a readout of the system's memory is being carried out to ensure the update is in the right place. If no anomalies are found, the update will be triggered on October 28. Voyager 1 will also receive the patch, but because it is further away, NASA is using Voyager 2 as a testbed.