NASA’s Voyager 2 Mission: What You Need to Know About Upcoming Shutdown Plans

NASA has decided to turn off another instrument on Voyager 2 to save power and keep the spacecraft running longer. In October 2024, they powered down the Plasma Spectrometer, and in March, they will turn off the Low-Energy Charged Particle (LECP) instrument.

This is important for the Voyager mission. “If we don’t shut off instruments now, we might only have a few more months of power left,” explains Suzanne Dodd, the Voyager Project Manager at JPL.

Since launching in 1977, Voyager 1 and 2 have amazed us with their durability. They were only meant to operate for five years, but both have been traveling through space for nearly 50 years and are now in interstellar space.

Each Voyager carries about 13.5 kg of plutonium-238, which powers its instruments through Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs). As the plutonium decays, it loses power, forcing NASA to reduce the spacecraft’s power needs.

The team has chosen to turn off less critical systems while keeping the most important ones alive. The goal is to extend the mission and collect as much valuable data as possible.

Currently, Voyager 2 has three active instruments: the Triaxial Fluxgate Magnetometer (MAG), the Cosmic Ray Subsystem (CRS), and the Plasma Wave Subsystem (PWS). These instruments allow it to continue gathering important scientific data.

The MAG instrument has been essential in studying the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune and has helped determine when Voyager 2 crossed into interstellar space. Now, it measures interstellar magnetic fields and their interaction with our Sun’s magnetic fields.

The CRS has provided vital data on cosmic rays, helping scientists understand how these high-energy particles behave. Meanwhile, the PWS has been crucial for measuring electron density and has even detected lightning on Jupiter and other giant planets.

While the LECP has provided insights into charged particles and solar wind dynamics, it will be turned off in March due to energy constraints. Its shutdown underscores the ingenuity and long-lasting design of the Voyager instruments, which are still performing well.

Even after all these years, NASA keeps pushing the boundaries of space exploration. “The Voyager spacecraft have gone beyond their original mission to study the outer planets,” said Patrick Koehn, Voyager Program Scientist. Each new data point they send back is not just more science—it’s a testament to nearly five decades of incredible engineering.

The Voyagers still have more to tell us as they journey deeper into interstellar space. While the team anticipates needing to turn off additional instruments soon, they believe both spacecraft could keep operating into the 2030s, albeit with limited capabilities.

It’s easy to overlook the achievements of the Voyager program today, with so many new missions launching regularly. However, we must remember that they have traveled over 20 billion kilometers, with signals taking 19.5 hours from Voyager 2 and 23.5 hours from Voyager 1 to reach Earth.

Every moment, the Voyagers explore regions of space that no other spacecraft has touched, making their journeys monumental for humanity.

“Every minute of every day, the Voyagers explore a region where no spacecraft has gone before.” – Linda Spilker, Voyager Project Scientist at JPL