NASA Engineers Execute Critical Thruster Swap to Sustain Voyager 1 Mission

The aging spacecraft, now in interstellar space, faces power and hardware challenges as it continues its journey 47 years after launch.

Voyager 1's thrusters, crucial for maintaining communication with Earth, have become clogged due to silicon dioxide buildup from aging fuel tanks.
NASA engineers successfully switched to a less-clogged thruster branch by temporarily turning off a main heater to conserve power.
The spacecraft's power supply is dwindling, forcing the team to carefully manage and prioritize its limited resources.
Voyager 1 has been sending back valuable data from interstellar space, despite operating with severely limited computational power and aged hardware.
This latest engineering feat underscores the increasing complexity and caution required to keep the 47-year-old mission operational.