The POT has disconnected another scientific instrument from its Voyager 2 probe in order to save power.
The space agency said Tuesday that Voyager 2’s plasma science instrument, designed to measure the flow of charged atoms, was shut down at the end of September so the spacecraft can continue exploring as long as possible, expected into the 2030s. .
NASA shut down a suite of instruments on Voyager 2 and its twin Voyager 1 after they explored the gas giant planets in the 1980s. Both are currently in interstellar space. Voyager 1’s plasma instrument stopped working long ago and was shut down permanently in 2007.
Voyager 2’s four remaining instruments will continue to collect information about magnetic fields and particles. Its goal is to study the fringes of space located beyond the Sun’s protective bubble.
Launched in 1977, Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune. It is currently more than 19.31 billion kilometers (12 billion miles) away from the Land. Voyager 1 is more than 24.14 billion kilometers (15 billion miles) from Earth.