NASA is taking crucial steps to conserve power for the Voyager spacecraft, which have been operational for 47 years, far exceeding their intended five-year lifespan. As both Voyagers traverse interstellar space, their radioisotope power systems are diminishing in output, prompting the shutdown of non-essential scientific instruments. Recent efforts include turning off the cosmic ray subsystem on Voyager 1 and planning to switch off a low-energy charged particle instrument on Voyager 2. With these actions, NASA anticipates extending the probes' operational capabilities into the 2030s, maintaining their role in space exploration.
Electrical power is running low," said Voyager project manager, Suzanne Dodd. "If we don't turn off an instrument on each Voyager now, they would probably have only a few more months of power before we would need to declare end of mission.
The Voyagers have been deep space rock stars since launch, and we want to keep it that way as long as possible.
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