NASA's Voyager 1 and 2, launched in 1977 and 1978, are facing critical power shortages as their radioisotope power systems decay. The probes, now over 15 billion and 13 billion miles from Earth, are losing four watts of power annually, prompting NASA to shut down key scientific instruments to extend their operational life. Voyager 1's cosmic ray subsystem is already offline, with Voyager 2's low-energy charged particle instrument set to be deactivated by the end of March. Project manager Suzanne Dodd emphasizes the urgency to conserve power to prolong the Voyagers' legacy in deep space exploration.
According to the latest statement, the spacecraft's energy sources are depleting rapidly, necessitating the shutdown of critical scientific instruments on both Voyager 1 and 2.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab is implementing power conservation measures, turning off instruments to extend the missions of the Voyager spacecraft for as long as possible.
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