Story perspectives

NASA extends Voyager 2 instruments by one year

8/19/2026

Summary

Story summary

In July 2026 NASA engineers at JPL rearranged Voyager 2’s power and thermal systems, freeing ~10 watts.
The extra power delays shutdown of Voyager 2’s magnetometer, plasma-wave and cosmic-ray subsystems, extending them by at least one year.
NASA confirmed the reconfiguration succeeded and will repeat it on Voyager 1.
Voyager 2, which crossed the heliopause in 2018 and now sits about 13.3 billion miles from Earth, receives commands that take two days, per engineer Nshan Kazaryan.

History

Historical Context

In 1977 NASA launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 with 470 watts of RTG power. By 2026 JPL engineer Nshan Kazaryan reallocated about 10 watts, extending instrument life as the probes continue their interstellar mission. Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012 and Voyager 2 followed in 2018, illustrating the design’s decades-long durability and echoing earlier 2019 power-management updates.

1 of 2

Story summary

In July 2026 NASA engineers at JPL rearranged Voyager 2’s power and thermal systems, freeing ~10 watts.
The extra power delays shutdown of Voyager 2’s magnetometer, plasma-wave and cosmic-ray subsystems, extending them by at least one year.
NASA confirmed the reconfiguration succeeded and will repeat it on Voyager 1.
Voyager 2, which crossed the heliopause in 2018 and now sits about 13.3 billion miles from Earth, receives commands that take two days, per engineer Nshan Kazaryan.

1 / 2