http://www.tonic.com/article/voyager-2-space-oddity/
Get out the tinfoil hats kids! Voyager 2, Space Oddity By David Bois <http://www.tonic.com/contributor/david-bois/> | Thursday, May 13, 2010 5:25 AM ET Simple glitch or hacked by aliens? NASA scientists are baffled by Voyager 2's abrupt and indecipherable change in the format of its data stream. What on earth (or, rather, way out in space) has become of the Voyager 2 space probe? NASA scientists are baffled by a sudden and so-far indecipherable change in the data format of the signals that the probe has been sending back since late April, leading to some wild and colorful speculations that seem ripped from the screenplay of the original *Star Trek *movie. But as Space.com<http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/nasa-tracking-voyager2-problem-100506.html>reports, late last month the signals sent back from Voyager 2 suddenly arrived in an unknown format. Unable to decipher the data stream and completely baffled by the cause for the shift in how Voyager 2 communicates with its Earth-bound team, NASA scientists have for the time been instructed the probe to send only information on its operational health and status while they get to the bottom of the sudden and strange behavior. Voyager 1 and 2 are presently 10.5 and 8.6 billion miles from Earth respectively, and a half a day is required either to send or receive data due to the distance between home planet and the two most distant objects ever sent into space from Earth. The lack of clear explanation for the data stream alteration has certainly opened the door for some colorful speculation. Some have noted the striking similarity to the plot twist in 1979's *Star Trek: The Motion Picture<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079945/> *, where the mysterious entity named V'ger that the Enterprise crew confronts turns out to be the remains of fictional Voyager 6 space probe turned sentient. As reflected by articles at TechEye.net<http://www.techeye.net/science/nasas-voyager-assimilated-by-aliens>and Australia's Daily Telegraph<http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/wacky/have-aliens-hijacked-voyager-2-spacecraft/story-e6frev20-1225865566982>, some wonder if perhaps extraterrestrial life has in fact received the messages contained in the Golden Records, and are using the probe's communication systems to send us a reply that we can't yet decode. NASA scientists have, not surprisingly, not weighed in on the matter of aliens having hacked our space probe, choosing to keep collective nose to the grindstone in determining cause and solution. Some, though (former fans of *The X Files <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106179/>*, no doubt), will continue to "want to believe." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:318275 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
