All articles tagged with #power management
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory used a 'Big Bang' power-saving plan on Voyager 2 to shut down nonessential systems and swap in lower-power options, conserving energy from its aging radioisotope thermoelectric generators to extend the science mission by about a year; Voyager 1 will undergo the same adjustment soon.
NASA's Voyager 2 gained about two extra years of life by a bold, 'Big Bang' power-and-thermal reconfiguration that flips multiple subsystems on at once to conserve power while keeping heaters warm. After Earth tests and telemetry validation, the permanent change was deployed on July 9; the next instrument shutdown (Cosmic Ray System) has been postponed to after Voyager 2's 50th anniversary in 2027 and into 2028. Margins are tight and subject to revision, and engineers may consider reactivating some instruments if funding allows; a similar update could be explored for Voyager 1.
NASA beamed a new software update—nicknamed 'Big Bang'—to Voyager 2 from about 13.3 billion miles away, turning off some high‑power devices and swapping them for lower‑power options to conserve energy. The change should keep the remaining three instruments operational for at least another year as the RTG power slowly declines, and NASA plans to apply the same update to Voyager 1.
NASA has extended Voyager 2’s lifespan by about one year using a software update nicknamed “Big Bang.” By turning off certain high-power instruments and swapping in lower-power equivalents, the spacecraft conserves the dwindling power from its plutonium RTG (losing roughly 4 watts per year), allowing its three remaining instruments to continue science work roughly 13 billion miles from Earth. Voyager 2, launched in 1977, visited the outer planets, reached interstellar space in 2018, and now transmits data about the heliosphere as its energy budget tightens.
NASA engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory executed a risky energy-saving move dubbed a 'Big Bang' to shut down nonessential systems and swap in lower-energy options on Voyager 2, preserving enough plutonium-generated power to keep three instruments functioning for about another year. The team plans to apply the same strategy to Voyager 1, extending the spacecrafts’ science while watts dwindle.
NASA’s Voyager 2 gained at least a year of extra operational life not by touching the spacecraft, but via a coordinated ground-based power swap called the “Big Bang” that swaps in lower-power components while keeping critical heaters and instruments online. With a roughly 39-hour command cycle (about 19.5 hours to reach the probe and the same back), engineers plan far in advance, since there’s no live troubleshooting. The change reduces power demand from aging RTGs and preserves science measurements from three active instruments in interstellar space; Voyager 1 will receive a similar upgrade in the coming months.
NASA’s Voyager 1 could gain extra years of operation thanks to a “big bang” power-saving maneuver tested on Voyager 2, which toggles off two heaters and an old data recorder while turning on two other heaters and a propulsion unit. The switch saves about 10 watts per year from the aging RTG, potentially allowing LECP (the Low-energy Charged Particles instrument) to run again and keeping two remaining instruments—plasma-wave and magnetic-field sensors—online as it drifts farther into interstellar space. If all goes well, Voyager 1 could approach one light-day from Earth this November, reach NASA’s projected 50th anniversary in 2027, and possibly extend operations into the 2030s.
NASA engineers at JPL have extended Voyager 2’s life by implementing a 'Big Bang' power-saving plan that turns off nonessential instruments to conserve dwindling plutonium-powered energy, leaving only three sensors active and buying about a year of additional flight in interstellar space; the team may apply the same strategy to Voyager 1.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's 'Big Bang' power-management fix on Voyager 2 disables two heaters and a heat-dissipating device while switching on lower-power components, plus a software update so safe-mode includes these devices. The result is about a year of extended data from Voyager 2's three remaining instruments; a similar plan is in place for Voyager 1 with thermal tests by late August. Launched in 1977 and powered by RTGs, both probes remain the farthest active spacecraft from Earth as they traverse interstellar space.
Practical steps to extend MacBook Pro battery life: monitor energy use to spot demanding apps (Chrome often drains power due to tab processes), consider Safari for better efficiency (Edge is a middle-ground option), keep macOS updated for bug fixes and improvements, enable Low Power Mode, and adjust hardware settings (lower brightness, disable ProMotion by using 60Hz, and let the display sleep on battery). Also ensure the device sits on a stable surface for cooling and manage keyboard backlight as needed for longer sessions.
NASA is keeping Voyager 1 alive by cautiously turning off nonessential instruments and heaters to conserve the aging RTG’s power, while keeping it warm enough to prevent fuel lines from freezing and to maintain precise antenna pointing. The 25-billion-kilometre distance makes any misfire fatal, and a 2025 fuel-line clog nearly cut off thruster control—forcing a successful test of the long-dormant primary roll thrusters to extend the mission into the 2030s as communications depend on a 23-hour round trip.
Intel revealed the Arc G3 as a handheld-focused GPU-with-integrated-CPU, built from fallout Panther Lake dies and stripped of IP blocks to fit a tight 12–13 W SoC power envelope; core count drops from 4 to 2, display engines from 3 to 2, and Thunderbolt from 4 to 2 to hit thermal targets. Power Management v3.5 parks P-cores under low power so the E-cores handle the workload for steadier frame delivery; XeSS Frame Gen imposes a rasterization tax, and Endurance Gaming mode currently doesn’t support Frame Gen. A cloud-based shader pre-compilation pipeline further reduces load times, as Intel positions Arc G3 as a dedicated handheld challenger to Ryzen Z-series.
Microsoft acknowledges that faulty third-party drivers have silently drained Windows 11 batteries and degraded performance for years. It will overhaul driver evaluation to assess power usage, heat generation, and performance, introduce automatic rollbacks to block problematic drivers, and shift away from crash-only criteria by incorporating telemetry to detect everyday usability issues.
Voyager 1, about 172.6 AU from Earth, continues to transmit from beyond the heliosphere on roughly 22 watts; seven of its ten original instruments are shut down to conserve power, with only the Plasma Wave Subsystem and magnetometer remaining and a small 0.5-watt motor kept spinning to preserve revival chances. The RTGs now deliver around 220 watts total, and NASA plans a long-term 'Big Bang' power-swap strategy—starting with Voyager 2 in mid-2026—to extend telemetry into the 2030s, though one-way signals already take about 23 hours to reach Earth.
NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 may keep transmitting deep-space data into the 2030s thanks to a high-risk power-management maneuver nicknamed the 'Big Bang' that will disable three instruments to prevent fuel-line freezing and replace them with new devices to save about 10 watts. Testing on Voyager 2 in May and June 2026, followed by Voyager 1, aims to extend instrument life by roughly a year as power from aging RTGs dwindles; the goal remains to reach about 200 astronomical units by around 2035, though the probes will continue to lose capability as power declines and the transmitter consumes most of the remaining power.