Story perspectives

NASA Shuts Voyager 1 Instrument, Power Halved at 25 Bkm

4/27/2026

Summary

Story summary

NASA shut down Voyager 1’s Low-energy Charged Particles (LECP) instrument on April 17, 2026.
Its three radioisotope thermoelectric generators now produce less than half original power, losing about 4 watts per year.
Mission manager Kareem Badaruddin said the shutdown is the best option after the Cosmic Ray Subsystem was disabled in February 2025.
Voyager 1 still transmits plasma-wave and magnetometer data from 25 billion km, with commands taking roughly 23 hours to reach and over 3 hours to execute.

1 of 1

Story summary

NASA shut down Voyager 1’s Low-energy Charged Particles (LECP) instrument on April 17, 2026.
Its three radioisotope thermoelectric generators now produce less than half original power, losing about 4 watts per year.
Mission manager Kareem Badaruddin said the shutdown is the best option after the Cosmic Ray Subsystem was disabled in February 2025.
Voyager 1 still transmits plasma-wave and magnetometer data from 25 billion km, with commands taking roughly 23 hours to reach and over 3 hours to execute.