NASA Powers Down Voyager Instruments to Extend Mission Life

The Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977, are currently the most distant human-made objects from Earth. To ensure continued data transmission from these remarkable probes, NASA has decided to turn off certain onboard instruments to conserve power. Project manager Suzanne Dodd emphasized the urgency of this decision, noting that without these measures, the missions might only have a few months of operational time left.

The Voyager twins, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, were initially designed to study the outer planets of the solar system but have since exceeded their original objectives, now venturing beyond the heliosphere into interstellar space. As of now, only three of the ten original scientific instruments on each spacecraft remain operational.

In late February, an experiment aboard Voyager 1 that monitored cosmic radiation using three telescopes was concluded. Following this, in March, an instrument on Voyager 2 that detects low-energy charged particles will also be switched off. This strategic reduction in instrumentation is vital as both probes rely on a power system that generates electricity from the heat produced by decaying plutonium. Each spacecraft loses approximately four watts of power annually, leading to a gradual depletion of their energy reserves. Dodd mentioned, 'The energy is getting tight,' indicating that further reductions in instrument usage may be necessary within the next year, potentially allowing the missions to continue into the 2030s.

Patrick Koehn, a scientist involved with the Voyager program, remarked on the extraordinary achievements of these missions, stating that they have far surpassed their initial goals of exploring the outer planets. The data collected continues to provide invaluable insights into heliophysics and the nature of the solar wind.

Currently, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are located over 25 billion and 21 billion kilometers from Earth, respectively. Due to this immense distance, signals from the probes take approximately 23 hours and 19.5 hours to reach Earth. The ongoing mission of the Voyagers stands as a testament to human ingenuity and the quest for knowledge about our solar system and beyond.