Keeping Voyager Alive: NASA’s Project Scientist Faces Painful Choices as the Iconic Mission Nears Its End

In 1977, two probes launched less than a month apart on a mission to the great beyond. The twin Voyager spacecraft were to travel where no other mission had gone before, exploring what lies outside the vast bubble that surrounds our solar system, beyond the influence of our host star. Voyager 1 reached the beginning of interstellar space in 2012, while Voyager 2 reached the boundary in 2018, traveling beyond the protective bubble surrounding the solar system known as the heliosphere. The Voyager probes were the first spacecraft to cross into interstellar space and have been exploring the unfamiliar region for nearly 48 years. But all good things must come to an end, and the iconic mission is gradually losing steam as it approaches oblivion. The Voyagers are powered by heat from decaying plutonium, which is converted into electricity. Each year, the aging spacecraft lose about 4 watts of power. In an effort to conserve power, the mission team has turned off any systems that were deeme ... Read full article.