NASA has deactivated additional scientific instruments aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft as part of a strategy to reduce energy consumption. Currently, each Voyager spacecraft operates with only three functioning scientific instruments, down from an initial ten, following the shutdown of the cosmic ray detector on Voyager 1 on February 25, 2024, and the planned disabling of the low-energy charged particle detector on Voyager 2 on March 24, 2024. These spacecraft, launched in 1977, rely on radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which lose approximately 4 watts of power annually. Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012, followed by Voyager 2 in 2018, marking them as the only human-made probes operating beyond the heliosphere. Notably, after a computer anomaly in November 2023, Voyager 1 resumed data transmission from four scientific instruments in June 2024, underscoring the mission’s resilience and ongoing contributions to our understanding of interstellar space. The continued operation of these instruments, albeit limited, is critical for advancing scientific knowledge in areas largely unexplored by humankind.
