NASA shuts down one of Voyager 1’s instruments in an attempt to keep the spacecraft alive
This iconic spacecraft was launched almost 49 years ago and is dangerously low on power.
By Meghan Bartels edited by Claire Cameron
NASA/JPL-Caltech
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The venerable Voyager 1 spaceship is one more step towards the end of his scientific journey.
NASA turned off one of its three remaining operational instruments last Friday to save power after the spacecraft’s energy levels unexpectedly dropped during a maneuver in late February, according to a press release from the agency.
“While shutting down a scientific instrument is not anyone’s preference, it is the best option available,” Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said in the statement. “The team remains focused on maintaining both Voyagers for as long as possible.”
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Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, were launched in 1977 for a grand tour of the outer solar system. Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter, Saturn, and the latter’s largest moon, Titan, all just a few years after launch. And since then, she has pushed the limits of human exploration beyond the solar system. The spacecraft is currently 15.78 billion miles from Earth and traveling at more than 51,000 miles per hour.
But the trip has taken a toll on the spacecraft’s nuclear power supply, which no longer generates as much power as when the probe was first launched. Since the late 1980s, NASA has decommissioned the science instruments on each Voyager spacecraft, one by one, to reduce the amount of power needed to remain operational. Last Friday, another Voyager 1 device shut down for good.
This instrument, the Low-Energy Charged Particles (LECP) experiment, measured particles including ions, electrons and cosmic rays. Its data has helped scientists understand pressure fronts and other structures in the interstellar medium that fill the void beyond the boundaries of the solar system.
NASA engineers long ago worked out an order in which the sister spacecraft’s instruments would be turned off as they aged and lost power. Before this month, Voyager 1’s last instrument loss was in February 2025, when engineers disabled his experiment on the cosmic ray subsystem. Voyager 2 lost its LECP experiment shortly thereafter; it currently has three operational scientific instruments.
Now Voyager 1 collects data with only its magnetometer and plasma wave subsystem. Given the spacecraft’s current power supply, NASA expects it to be able to operate in this configuration for about a year. Meanwhile, the space agency will work to refine a plan called “Big Bang,” designed to help the two Voyager spacecraft save energy and expand their operations. This procedure will be tested on Voyager 2 starting next month.
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