NASA Powers Down Voyager Instruments to Prolong Historic Mission

Facing dwindling energy reserves, NASA has begun shutting down additional instruments on the Voyager spacecraft to extend their interstellar exploration into the 2030s.

NASA has announced the shutdown of one instrument each on Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 to conserve their limited power supply as the spacecraft continue their interstellar missions.
Voyager 2's Low-Energy Charged Particle instrument will be deactivated on March 24, 2025, following the recent shutdown of Voyager 1's Cosmic Ray Subsystem in February 2025.
Both spacecraft, launched in 1977, rely on decaying plutonium-238 for power, which has steadily decreased over the decades, forcing NASA to prioritize critical scientific instruments.
The remaining active instruments on each probe will continue to collect valuable data about the interstellar medium, including magnetic fields, cosmic rays, and plasma density.
NASA engineers aim to keep at least one instrument operational on each Voyager spacecraft into the 2030s, marking nearly 60 years of unprecedented deep-space exploration.