NASA EXTENDS VOYAGER 2 MISSION ANOTHER YEAR

Engineers implemented a strategy to extend Voyager 2's lifespan by managing its aging power systems and onboard instruments. The probe relies on radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) that have degraded over nearly five decades of operation. Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to have visited all four outer planets. It entered interstellar space in 2018, joining its twin Voyager 1 in transmitting data from beyond our solar system's boundary. NASA has previously extended the mission multiple times as the probe's power supply gradually diminishes. Each extension requires careful prioritization of which scientific instruments remain active. The Voyager program represents one of humanity's longest-running space missions. Both probes carry golden records with sounds and images from Earth, intended as messages to any extraterrestrial life that might encounter them.