NASA Sends Voyager 2 Power-Saving Update From 13.3 Billion Miles, Extending 3 Instruments by 1 Year
Updated
Updated · PetaPixel · Aug 11
NASA Sends Voyager 2 Power-Saving Update From 13.3 Billion Miles, Extending 3 Instruments by 1 Year
3 articles · Updated · PetaPixel · Aug 11
Summary
Nearly 49 years after launch, Voyager 2 received NASA’s “Big Bang” software update from 13.3 billion miles away, preserving enough power to keep its three remaining science instruments running for at least one extra year.
The update swapped some powered devices for lower-power alternatives, cutting energy use while keeping the spacecraft warm enough to operate in interstellar space.
Voyager 2 loses about 4 watts of power each year as plutonium in its radioisotope generator decays, leaving what NASA called “razor thin” power margins; without the change, another instrument would have been shut down.
NASA plans the same update for Voyager 1, which is farther from Earth, as both probes continue operating as the only human-made objects in interstellar space.