Nearly 50 years after their first launch, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are still traveling through interstellar space, although they have faced some challenges over the years. Now, NASA has announced that the twin Voyager spacecraft are losing some of their functions in an effort to extend their service life in the face of declining power supplies.
On February 25, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) turned off the cosmic ray subsystem of Voyager 1, and on March 25, it will turn off the low-energy charged particle instrument of Voyager 2.
“Since their launch, the Voyagers have been the rock stars of deep space, and we want to keep them that way for as long as possible,” said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at JPL. “But we’re running out of power. If we don’t turn off the instruments on each Voyager now, they’ll probably only have enough power for a few months before we have to call it a day.”
Each probe will continue to operate with three science instruments, but will hold seven more instruments that have been turned off over time. Only last October, NASA turned off Voyager 2’s plasma science instrument. However, both spacecraft have recently encountered problems. Last June, Voyager 1 finally started working properly again after seven months of technical problems, including unreadable data. A similar problem occurred two years ago. In 2023, Voyager 2 lost power for two weeks after needing technical assistance three years ago.
NASA still attaches great importance to the Voyager probes. “Every minute of every day, Voyagers are exploring a region where no spacecraft has ever been before,” says Linda Spilker, Voyager project scientist at JPL. “That also means that every day could be our last. But that day could also bring another interstellar revelation. That’s why we’re doing everything we can to keep Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 going as long as possible.” Maybe at least until 50 years in 2027?
A slightly more cynical take on NASA’s “doing our best” to keep them going is that they would certainly like to keep the probes functioning until their 50th anniversary in 2027 – which seems like a daunting task despite the agency’s best efforts.
