🤖 AI Summary
NASAは、48年前に打ち上げられた Voyager 2の探査機を、不要なシステムへの電力供給を停止し、低消費電力の代替手段を使用することで、少なくとも1年間は機能させることができると発表しました。Voyager 1も今後数ヶ月で同じ電力削減措置が行われる予定です。これらの探査機はプルトニウムを燃料とする核バッテリーにより動かされており、毎年約4ワットの供給量が減少しています。NASAは非科学的な装置の停止と低消費電力の代替手段を使用することで、探査機の電力を節約し、温暖化を維持しています。
両探査機には2024年以来、それぞれ2つの科学機器が停止されており、Voyager 2は現在3つの機器のみとなっています。最初の段階では、今年中にもう1つの科学装置も停止される見込みでしたが、幸いにも新しい電力配置により、すべての3つの機器は「少なくとも1年間」稼働することができるとのことです。
この電力量削減措置は、両探査機にとって科学活動に影響を及ぼしており、それぞれが歴史的な惑星通過後から停止されたいくつかの機器と、供給量が減少したための停止された一部の機器があります。
NASA has squeezed at least another year of science out of Voyager 2 by cutting power to nonessential systems and switching to lower-power alternatives. Voyager 1 is expected to receive the same power-saving changes in the coming months. Space.com reports: Voyager 2 and its twin launched in 1977, called Voyager 1, rely on a form of nuclear battery known as a radioisotope thermoelectric generator that uses the heat produced by the decay of plutonium. But the supply of plutonium on each probe drops at about four watts a year on each spacecraft. To keep the probe running on this dwindling power supply, engineers recently reduced Voyager 2's power requirements by turning off a few non-science devices and using "lower-power alternatives" that are still effective enough to keep the spacecraft warm while it's so far from the sun, NASA officials said in a statement. "The spacecraft power margins have grown razor thin, requiring the team to conserve energy by shutting off non-essential devices and systems," NASA officials wrote of the mission, which is managed by the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The drop in power is having a measurable science impact on both spacecraft -- each has turned off two of their science instruments since 2024 alone. While some of these instruments were shut off after the spacecraft finished their historic planetary flybys decades ago, others were turned off due to power requirements. Each spacecraft initially launched with 10 instruments, and Voyager 2 is now down to only three instruments. At first it looked as though Voyager 2 would have to shut down another of these instruments later this year, but luckily, the new power shifts will allow all three to operate "for at least another year," NASA said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.