To save power, NASA has switched off another scientific instrument on its long-running Voyager 2 spacecraft.
The space agency said that Voyager 2’s plasma science instrument – designed to measure the flow of charged atoms – was powered down in late September so the spacecraft can keep exploring for as long as possible, expected into the 2030s.
NASA turned off a suite of instruments on Voyager 2 and its twin Voyager 1 after they explored the gas giant planets in the 1980s.
Both are currently in interstellar space – the space between stars.
The plasma instrument on Voyager 1 stopped working long ago and was finally shut down in 2007.
Four remaining instruments on Voyager 2 will continue collecting information about magnetic fields and particles.
Its goal is to study the swaths of space beyond the sun’s protective bubble.
Launched in 1977, Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune.
It is currently more than 19.31 billion kilometres from earth.
Voyager 1 is more than 24.14 billion kilometres from earth.
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