Nearly 50 years after their first launch, Voyager 1 and 2 are still traveling around interstellar space, despite some setbacks over the years. Now, NASA Lost some functions Face the power supply to extend its life.
On February 25, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) shut down Voyager 1’s cosmic ray subsystem experiments and on March 25, Voyager 2’s low-energy charging particle instrument.
“Voyagers have always been Deep Space Rock Stars, and we want to keep that as long as possible,” said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at JPL. “But the electricity is running low. If we don’t turn off the instruments on each craft right now, they may only have a few months of power to declare the mission over.”
Each detector will continue to run three scientific instruments, but over time, another seven instruments will be turned off. Just last October, NASA shut down Voyager 2’s plasma science tool. However, both spacecraft have encountered recent problems. Last June, Voyager 1 finally started running correctly again, Seven months of technical problemsincluding unreadable data. It also has similar problems Two years ago. In 2023, Voyager 2 It was dark for two weeks after it needed technical assistance three years ago.
NASA still has great value in Voyager probes. “Every minute of the day, travelers explore an area that hasn’t been to without spacecraft,” said Linda Spilker, a Voyager project scientist at JPL. “It also means that every day may be our last day. But that day may also bring another interstellar apocalypse. So we are doing our best to make sure Voyagers 1 and 2 continue to be pioneering at the maximum time at the maximum time.” Maybe at least until they reach 50 years in 2027?
The cynical view of NASA’s “pull all stays” to keep them moving forward is that they will certainly like the 2027 probes play out on their 50th anniversary – despite the agency’s best efforts, it feels like a daunting task.
