NASA's Innovative Solution Keeps Voyager 2 Mission Going Strong

NASA has managed to keep all of Voyager 2's scientific instruments operating until 2026 by using a small reserve of backup power, postponing a shutdown planned for this year. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune, and its observations of Jupiter and Saturn were crucial in determining what topics subsequent missions should focus on. The spacecraft's power source is getting fainter, but NASA has managed to maintain enough power to keep the scientific instruments going by progressively switching off heaters, switching to backup thrusters, and shutting down other no-longer-needed systems.