It’s hard to believe that the Voyager spacecraft have been on their incredible journey for 47 years. They are now the farthest man-made objects from Earth, traveling through interstellar space. However, their nuclear power sources are running low, and NASA is doing everything it can to keep them going.
The power systems in the Voyagers lose around 4 watts each year. To conserve energy, NASA has started shutting down some of the science instruments on each spacecraft. For instance, they turned off the cosmic ray subsystem on Voyager 1 on February 25th. Soon, on March 24th, they will also switch off the low-energy charged particle instrument on Voyager 2. After these steps, each spacecraft will only have three of their original ten instruments still active.
According to Suzanne Dodd, the Voyager project manager, “Electrical power is running low. 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 need to end the mission.” The Voyagers have been amazing explorers and NASA wants to keep them operational for as long as possible.
This isn’t the first time NASA has turned off instruments to save power. After both spacecraft completed their flybys of the gas giants in our solar system, only the essential instruments stayed on to gather data about the heliosphere and interstellar space. Thanks to these latest adjustments, NASA expects the Voyagers to continue their work for another year.
The Voyagers were originally designed for a five-year mission, but they’ve far exceeded that expectation. The data they have collected is invaluable. Just last year, NASA managed to fix Voyager 1 when it stopped sending usable data from 15 billion miles away, getting it back online in June.
Looking forward, NASA plans to turn off another instrument aboard Voyager 1 next year and the cosmic ray subsystem on Voyager 2 in 2026. With these energy-saving plans, NASA believes that at least one scientific instrument could still be operational well into the 2030s, given that no other problems arise.
Linda Spilker, the project scientist, reminds us, “Every minute of every day, the Voyagers explore a region where no spacecraft has gone before. That also means every day could be our last. But it’s also a chance for new discoveries. We’re doing everything we can to ensure Voyagers 1 and 2 continue their groundbreaking journey for as long as possible.”
Check out this related article: NASA Powers Down Voyager Instruments: How This Bold Move Could Extend the Life of Our Interstellar Pioneers
Source linkNASA,News,Science,Space
