Overview
- JPL engineers executed the “Big Bang” reconfiguration in July, simultaneously turning off higher‑power heaters and a tape recorder while switching on lower‑power heaters and other devices to reduce overall draw.
- NASA announced that the power savings should allow Voyager 2’s three remaining instruments—the Cosmic Ray Subsystem, the Magnetometer and the Plasma Wave Subsystem—to keep operating for at least another year.
- The maneuver followed months of careful validation, including power and thermal tests in May and June designed to ensure the swap would not overdraw the system or chill critical fuel lines.
- Teams ran a successful power test on Voyager 1 in late July and are scheduling thermal tests before attempting the same reconfiguration on that more distant probe.
- Longer life remains limited by steady RTG decay of about 4 watts per year, long signal delays and missing sensors, but even one extra year yields unique in‑situ data about interstellar space that no other active mission can provide.