Voyager 1 has gained operating time after engineers replaced three devices with alternatives that need less electricity. Its steadily weakening power supply still limits the mission’s science. A separate radio interruption ended before troubleshooting commands were sent, and engineers are investigating the origin of the loss of contact.
Voyager 1, the US space agency NASA’s interstellar probe, is stretching its remaining electricity supply. Engineers completed a coordinated replacement of three devices in early September, using alternatives with lower consumption. The team announced the change on 29 October. The substitutions had to happen together so that saving electricity would also preserve the distribution of warmth needed aboard the spacecraft.[1], [2]
Both Voyager probes draw power from the heat released by decaying plutonium, and their electrical output falls by about 4 watts a year. NASA estimated that without this change, Voyager 1 could have lost another science instrument as early as summer 2027. Voyager 2 had undergone a similar swap roughly six weeks earlier. The mission began in 1977 with 10 dedicated scientific instruments; some were retired after planetary encounters.[1]
Separately, ground antennas missed Voyager 1 during scheduled contacts on 18 and 19 October. The signal reappeared on 20 October, before engineers transmitted troubleshooting instructions. A thruster group had stopped operating and backup thrusters had taken over automatically. The cause of the radio interruption remains unknown. Communications have continued since the return of the signal, sustaining access to one of the only spacecraft measuring interstellar space directly.[1], [2]
