NASA successfully taps into reserve power on the Voyager 2 spacecraft

NASA has confirmed in a new report that the operation of the Voyager 2 spacecraft, launched in 1977, can be extended by what currently appears to be around three years. For this purpose, the reserve power is now tapped and used for the necessary instruments.

This is a great achievement for the Voyager mission. Originally, the journey of the probes – ie Voyager and Voyager 2 – was only designed for around four years and should send the probes past Saturn and Jupiter.

Both Voyager probes are self-powered for this voyage by radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs for short, that convert the heat from decaying plutonium into electricity. However, due to the continuous decay process, the generators also produce slightly less electricity each year than before.

Some systems have already been deactivated

“So far, the decreasing power supply has not affected the mission’s scientific performance, but to compensate for the loss, engineers have turned off heaters and other systems not essential to the operation of the spacecraft,” said NASA now.

Since Voyager 2 has exhausted these capabilities, the initial plan was to disable one of the probe’s five scientific instruments. But the researchers found another solution. A backup system is now used for power supply. Voyager 2 has a backup power supply as part of a safety mechanism. Since this has never had to be used in 45 years, the backup is now used to supply the scientific instruments.
Structure of the Voyager probes

It can also continue after 2026

For example, NASA was able to postpone the decision to shut down a scientific instrument until 2026. Launched in 1977, the Voyager 2 spacecraft is already more than 12 billion miles (19.3 billion kilometers) from Earth. The scientific data provided by the Voyager spacecraft becomes more valuable as it travels farther from the Sun. Therefore, scientists are very interested in keeping as many scientific instruments in operation as possible.

See also:

Galaxy, Space, Space, Nasa, Universe, Mars, Earth, Planet, Stars, World, Globe, Earth, Galaxy, Starry Sky, Night Sky, Planets, Shooting Stars, Planet Earth, Constellation, Wormhole, Warp, Worlds