Two NASA Voyager Science Instruments Turned Off To Extend Mission

An official report from NASA on 5 March 2025 states that NASA turned off two science instruments aboard its Voyager 1 and 2 probes. This isn’t a result of technical faults but in a bid to extend the life course of the individual missions by limiting the probes’ power output.

Sacrificing Some Science Instruments For The NASA Voyager Missions

The science instruments being turned off on the Voyager 1 and 2 are the cosmic ray subsystem experiment and the low-energy charged particle instrument, respectively. Turning off these instruments only stops them from functioning but doesn’t affect the use of the probes at large.

Instead, they help to conserve some power for both Voyager probes to be able to complete their missions. With all equipment turned on and active, NASA says that both Voyager 1 and 2 lose about 4 watts of power yearly.

At this rate, the plutonium power source on both Voyagers will be out of power in no time. To reserve this power for the better running of the probes, NASA deemed it necessary to turn off some equipment.

Suzanne Dodd, the Voyager project manager at JPL, says, “If we don’t turn off an instrument on each Voyager now, they would probably have only a few more months of power before we would need to declare end of mission.” Both Voyagers carry a set of 10 identical science instruments. And those that help gather data during planetary flybys are already turned off.

Is The NASA Voyager Reaching The End Of Its Life?

Originally launched into space in 1977, the Voyagers set out on a mission to observe Jupiter and Saturn. Now these two space probes are currently in interstellar space studying the outer parts of our solar system.

After 48 years, NASA has been trying to ensure that these probes stay alive to enable us to better understand our universe better. To do this, NASA has been turning off some of the science instruments aboard these probes to limit the amount of power the probes consume as they go further into interstellar space.

Prior to the turning off of the cosmic ray subsystem experiment and the low-energy charged particle instrument on the Voyager 1 and 2, NASA had already turned off various science instruments. The instruments in question are those designed to gather data as the probes flew by Jupiter and Saturn.

If NASA leaves these instruments operating on Voyager 1 and 2, both probes will run out of power soon. By shutting down the instruments, NASA is working to extend the lives of these space probes to enable them to continue their missions.