NASA has shut down another science instrument on Voyager 1 to conserve power as the 49-year-old spacecraft's nuclear power source decays. The instrument shutdown buys the probe roughly a year of operational time as it travels 15 billion miles from Earth in interstellar space.
·NASA disabled a science instrument on Voyager 1 to manage dwindling power reserves
·The spacecraft's nuclear power source is deteriorating after nearly five decades in operation
·The shutdown extends Voyager 1's mission by approximately one year
·Voyager 1 is currently 15 billion miles from Earth in interstellar space
·Mission control has begun scaling back non-essential systems to keep the probe functioning
drawn from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) (.gov), Universe Today, ScienceDaily, BBC Sky at Night Magazine · updated 60d ago