NASA engineers extend Voyager 2 mission life through power-saving maneuvers

NASA engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have implemented a power-saving maneuver, dubbed the ‘Big Bang’, to extend the operational life of the Voyager 2 spacecraft. Located over 13 billion miles from Earth, the nearly 50-year-old probe relies on radioisotope thermoelectric generators that lose approximately four watts of power annually due to the decay of plutonium-238. This maneuver involves shutting down certain powered devices and switching functions to lower-consumption alternatives to ensure the three remaining science instruments can continue operating for at least another year.

Beyond the Voyager missions, several deep-space probes continue to maintain two-way contact with Earth. Voyager 1 remains the most distant, with a signal round-trip time of approximately 47 hours. However, the Deep Space Network, which facilitates these communications via antenna complexes in California, Spain, and Australia, faces significant challenges. Demand for the network exceeds supply by roughly 40 percent, a situation exacerbated by the indefinite offline status of the 70-meter dish at Goldstone following damage in September 2025.