this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
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NASA Shuts Off Instrument on Voyager 1 to Keep Spacecraft Operating (science.nasa.gov)
submitted 1 day 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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[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 51 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Voyager 1 was launched in 1977 - just before the Reagan era. Coincidence?

Also, and I'm still just guessing here, it's probably the culmination of the space race to the moon minus the pressure to be there before the Russians.

In other words, NASA's Golden Age.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 13 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Also, the tech was "just right" then. Small and frugal enough to fit on a probe but still robust enough to survive more than a few years in space.