NASA's Voyager 2 Mission Extended with New Power Strategy.
TL;DR
NASA has repurposed Voyager 2's onboard voltage regulator to delay the shutdown of one of its five remaining scientific tools until 2026, extending the spacecraft's power supply by three years. The regulator draws a small amount of power from Voyager's radioisotope thermoelectric generators and stores it for emergencies, but NASA was able to modify it from 12 billion miles away to shunt that power to the remaining scientific instruments. Voyager 1 isn't getting the regulator repurpose just yet, as it previously lost a scientific instrument due to equipment failure.
- NASA tweaks Voyager 2's power supply to avoid another sensor shutdown The Register
- NASA Power Hack Extends 45-Year Voyager 2 Mission Even Longer Gizmodo
- NASA's Voyager will do more science with new power strategy Phys.org
- NASA will extend the mission of its iconic 45-year-old Voyager 2 spacecraft Interesting Engineering
- Voyager 2 will stay alive years longer thanks to new power strategy Boing Boing
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Want the full story? Read the original reporting
Read on The Register