My simplified diagram showing orientation of Voyager 2 antenna wrt earth, antenna energy pattern with main lobe and 2 side lobes, for X-band downlink and S-band up-link

Notices where this attachment appears

1. AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Friday, 04-Aug-2023 19:18:31 UTC AkaSci 🛰️

   in reply to

   How can Voyager 2 decode a signal when its antenna is mispointed by 2°?

   The graphic below shows the "antenna pattern" of the Voyager antenna. Most of the downlink energy is located in the narrow main lobe, but there is some energy in the side lobes too. The graphic shows 2 such sidelobes.

   The uplink signal strength has similar but wider lobes, so it is possible for V2 to decode a high power signal from the DSN at a 2° offset. Here's hoping that it does 🤞

   https://descanso.jpl.nasa.gov/DPSummary/Descanso4--Voyager_new.pdf
   #Voyager
   2/n