this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
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293
NASA Shuts Off Instrument on Voyager 1 to Keep Spacecraft Operating (science.nasa.gov)
submitted 5 hours ago by vogi@piefed.social to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Engineers are confident that shutting down the LECP will give Voyager 1 about a year of breathing room. They are using the time to finalize a more ambitious energy-saving fix for both Voyagers they call “the Big Bang,” which is designed to further extend Voyager operations. The idea is to swap out a group of powered devices all at once — hence the nickname — turning some things off and replacing them with lower-power alternatives to keep the spacecraft warm enough to continue gathering science data.

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[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 hour ago (3 children)

which would shut down components on its own to safeguard the probe, requiring recovery by the flight team — a lengthy process that carries its own risks.

Uhhh... how the fuck are you planning on recovering it?

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 10 points 1 hour ago

I think what they mean is that if the thing starts shutting stuff down on its own, the process to get those things started again is tedious. While if the humans tell it to shut things down, it is all more orderly.

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 4 points 33 minutes ago

Really long stick

[–] PattyMcB@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

That bit confused me as well. I'm thinking in case the launch and deployment failed, they could get it back much more easily

[–] mierdabird@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 51 minutes ago

This thing launched 50 years ago, it and it's sister probe are farther from earth than anything else by multiple orders of magnitude, they're literally outside the sun's influence. We obviously aren't getting them back so recovery must mean recovery to an operational state