Overview
- In July, JPL engineers executed a coordinated “Big Bang” procedure on Voyager 2 that turned off two dedicated heaters and a digital tape recorder used for residual heat and switched on lower‑power heaters and a lower‑power heat source.
- The change freed enough radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) power to keep Voyager 2’s three remaining instruments operating for roughly another year, according to NASA and the mission team.
- Engineers also updated the probe’s onboard software so that the lower‑power devices are included in the default safe state if the spacecraft enters safe mode, reducing the risk that an anomaly will force more instrument shutdowns.
- Voyager 1 has passed a power test and awaits a thermal test before the team applies the same swap, a step that could let the farther probe restart or preserve additional instruments if temperatures remain safe.
- The work rests on decades of careful tradeoffs because RTGs lose about four watts a year, heaters keep fuel lines and attitude systems from freezing, and one‑way signal delays of about 20 to 24 hours force slow, highly tested commands.