Voyager 2's Power-Saving Move: A Spacecraft's Long Journey

NASA made a tough decision recently. They turned off an instrument on Voyager 2, the spacecraft that's been exploring space for over four decades. Why? The spacecraft is running low on power. This isn't the first time NASA has done this. Back in the '80s, they shut down some instruments after Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1, finished exploring the gas giants. Voyager 2, launched way back in 1977, is special. It's the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune. Now, it's more than 12 billion miles from Earth, traveling through interstellar space. Its twin, Voyager 1, is even farther out, over 15 billion miles away.The instrument that got turned off this time is the plasma science instrument. It measures charged particles and their flow direction. But it hasn't been working too well recently because of its orientation. NASA hopes that by shutting it down, they can keep Voyager 2 exploring until at least the 2030s. Engineers are always careful when making changes to these old spacecraft. They want to make sure nothing goes wrong. So far, so good. The switch-off command was sent on September 26 and took a whopping 19 hours to reach Voyager 2 from Earth. The spacecraft is still working fine. NASA wants to maximize the science they can get from these missions. They've said that the data collected by the Voyager probes is unique because no other human-made spacecraft has operated in interstellar space. It's a tough balancing act, trying to keep these old explorers going while also getting as much useful information as possible.