Voyager 2 Survives on a Big Bang Power Swap, Extending its Interstellar Mission
NASA performed a coordinated 'Big Bang' power-and-thermal swap on Voyager 2, freeing almost 10 watts to keep its three active instruments on for at least a year despite ~4 watts/year decline from the RTGs at 143 AU. It’s not a repair, but a load reallocation to manage heat and power on a spacecraft with razor-thin margins, no repair port, and no spare parts. The rearrangement preserves the magnetometer, plasma-wave subsystem, and cosmic-ray instrument, with Voyager 1 slated for a similar reconfiguration and the possibility of continued operation into the 2030s if conditions hold.
