The emblematic Voyager 1 space probes and Voyager 2, launched almost 50 years ago, are running out of energy. In order not to lose them, NASA has made the decision to turn off two other instruments to extend its useful life.
One less instrument in each Voyager. On February 25, NASA now reveals, the mission team turned off the cosmic rays subsystem of the Voyager 1 probe, which studied high -energy particles in interstellar space.
The instrument has been doing science all this time and in 2020 it allowed to detect for the first time how electrons from the sun accelerate when bouncing in shock waves as they move outside the solar system. Voyager 1 is the object manufactured by humans that is farther from earth and that has been going into the interstellar space more time.
On March 24, NASA will also turn off the instrument that measures low -energy loaded particles in the Voyager 2. These movements seek to reduce the energy consumption of the probes, which depend on a radioisotope generator whose plutonium is running out. Both lose about 4 watts of power every year.
There are hardly any operational instruments. NASA has been going off the functions of Voyager to prolong its useful life. Of the 10 original scientific instruments, only three will continue to function in each of the twin probes, one of them for just a few months:
- The magnetometer: measures the strength and direction of the magnetic field in the confines of the solar system, helping to understand how the magnetic field of the sun and the magnetic field of interstellar space interact
- The plasma wave subsystem: detects electromagnetic and plasma waves, providing information on the density and plasma temperature in interstellar space
- In the Voyager 1, the instrument of low -energy loaded particles, which NASA plans to also deactivate at the end of 2025. In the Voyager 2, the cosmic rays subsystem, which will remain operational until 2026
A growing repair history. In May 2024, after six months without receiving legible scientific data due to the degradation of the internal memory of Voyager 1, NASA managed to restore the sending of information through a complex (and almost heroic) software update. It had already passed in 2010 with Voyager 2, but on that occasion it was solved with a restart.
Not only memory is failing. In September 2024, engineers had to light secondary propellants from Voyager 1, inactive for decades, to correct the orientation of the probe due to an obstruction of their main engines, also the result of their longevity. The procedure implied careful temporal heating of inactive engines, but was successful and allowed to continue with the mission.
NASA expects them to reach 2030. Suzanne Dodd, head of the Voyager project, said in a statement that off instruments is a crucial step to avoid the “premature” purpose of the mission. Thanks to these adjustments, both ships could continue to send scientific information at least until the 2030s, although with a progressive reduction of their abilities.
As for the “premature”: the Voyager have widely overcome their original mission, whose initial plan was to explore Jupiter and Saturn. Thanks to excellence in their engineering and these constant adjustments, the ships have continued to function beyond what is expected, revealing unique information about interstellar space and heliopause, the region where the solar wind loses its influence.
Images | POT
In WorldOfSoftware | The rescue of Voyager 1 has begun. With 8 kb of memory, a programming language of 1957 and an unimportant LAG
