CNN —The NASA team overseeing the iconic Voyager 2 spacecraft made the decision to power down one of its science instruments in an effort to conserve energy.
Despite the aging probe’s emptying power stores, NASA expects that Voyager 2 will keep operating with at least one science instrument into the 2030s.
Voyager 2 has three radioisotope thermoelectric generators that power the spacecraft by converting heat emitted by the decaying plutonium into electricity.
But turning off a piece of equipment on Voyager 2 or Voyager 1 — an identical spacecraft launched 16 days after its twin — is not ideal, NASA noted.
After reaching beyond the heliosphere, or interstellar space, Voyager 2 has “collected limited data in recent years due to its orientation relative to the direction that plasma is flowing,” NASA said.
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