NASA has shut down one of Voyager 1’s science instruments to conserve power, a move aimed at extending the spacecraft’s mission in interstellar space.
Engineers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent commands on April 17, 2026, to turn off the Low-Energy Charged Particles experiment, which had been operating almost continuously since the probe’s launch in 1977. The instrument measured low-energy ions, electrons and cosmic rays in deep space.
Voyager 1, now more than 15 billion miles from Earth, relies on a radioisotope power source that loses about 4 watts of power each year. To manage this gradual decline, mission teams have been shutting down instruments in a planned sequence to preserve core functions.
A power drop earlier this year nearly triggered an automatic shutdown, prompting engineers to proceed with the scheduled retirement of the instrument. With the latest step, only two instruments remain active on the spacecraft, a magnetometer and a plasma wave detector. Seven of the probe’s original ten instruments have already been turned off over the years.
NASA said the move could extend Voyager 1’s operational life by about a year, allowing it to continue sending valuable data from interstellar space. Engineers are also exploring strategies to optimise remaining systems, though the loss of the instrument means reduced data on cosmic rays.
Despite its age, Voyager 1 continues to provide rare insights into the space beyond the solar system, and it is unclear how long the spacecraft will remain operational.