"The move will enable the mission to postpone shutting down a science instrument until 2026, rather than this year," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said this past week. But engineers have now found a way to tap reserve power from a safety mechanism that regulates the spacecraft's voltage. To keep it going, engineers had already sacrificed heaters and other nonessential parts that drained power. With Voyager 2's power supply dwindling, NASA was about to shut down one of its five science instruments onboard the spacecraft. The Voyager 2, first launched in 1977, has been helping scientists investigate faraway planets and understand how the heliosphere - the sun's outermost atmospheric bubble-like layer that traps particles and magnetic fields - protects Earth from its volatile interstellar environment. But a new plan aims to keep its interstellar mission alive for at least three more years. NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft, which has been probing the outer bounds of the solar system for over 45 years, is running out of power.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |