Voyager 2 cheats the power budget for another year

Key Points:

• NASA engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory extended Voyager 2's operational life by implementing a power-saving procedure called the "Big Bang," which involved switching off certain devices and replacing heaters with lower-power alternatives to conserve energy while maintaining necessary warmth.
• The power savings from this procedure are expected to keep Voyager 2's instruments running for at least another year, delaying the need to switch off additional instruments until after 2026.
• Similar power-saving measures are planned for Voyager 1, which currently operates only two instruments and recently experienced an unexpected power drop, prompting NASA to switch off one experiment temporarily.
• Both Voyager probes, launched in 1977 for five-year planetary missions, are now in their interstellar mission phase with rapidly declining power from their Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, losing about 4 watts annually.
• The longevity of the Voyager spacecraft is a testament to their original design and ongoing careful power management, enabling them to function well beyond their initial mission expectations.