--- title: NASA’s Just Prolonged Voyager 2’s Science Mission With A... description: JPL engineers executed a 'big bang' switch on Voyager 2, powering down two heaters and another device to free up power from the spacecraft's diminishing RTG... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-s-just-prolonged-voyager-2-s-science-mission-with-a-big-bang-dinvk0y4m twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: NASA’s Just Prolonged Voyager 2’s Science Mission With A Big Bang | daily.dev og:description: JPL engineers executed a 'big bang' switch on Voyager 2, powering down two heaters and another device to free up power from the spacecraft's diminishing RTG... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-s-just-prolonged-voyager-2-s-science-mission-with-a-big-bang-dinvk0y4m og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/diNVk0y4m.png og:image:alt: NASA’s Just Prolonged Voyager 2’s Science Mission With A Big Bang og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # NASA’s Just Prolonged Voyager 2’s Science Mission With A Big Bang **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary JPL engineers executed a 'big bang' switch on Voyager 2, powering down two heaters and another device to free up power from the spacecraft's diminishing RTG output. This maneuver has extended Voyager 2's science mission by approximately one additional year. The heaters were previously needed to keep both electronics and fuel lines warm enough for attitude adjustments. The JPL team plans to perform the same procedure on Voyager 1 to similarly extend its operational lifespan before both probes eventually go silent. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How did NASA extend Voyager 2's science mission? NASA engineers turned off two heaters and another device that had been keeping the spacecraft's electronics and fuel lines warm, freeing up enough of the diminishing power from its radioisotope thermoelectric generator to extend the mission by roughly one extra year. The heaters had kept fuel lines warm enough to support attitude adjustment thrusters. JPL plans to attempt a similar switch on Voyager 1 to extend its lifespan as well. _Follow how engineers squeeze more life from aging hardware constraints on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [NASA Shuts Off Instrument on Voyager 1 to Keep Spacecraft Operating](https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-shuts-off-instrument-on-voyager-1-to-keep-spacecraft-operating-5gbpqnewd) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Roman Telescope Saves Fuel, Doubles Mission](https://daily.dev/posts/roman-telescope-saves-fuel-doubles-mission-rwf7cfzwn) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [A 1977 Time Capsule, Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory and an 8-track tape recorder](https://daily.dev/posts/a-1977-time-capsule-voyager-1-runs-on-69-kb-of-memory-and-an-8-track-tape-recorder-ubttkbz9t) · Hacker News · 5 upvotes · 2 comments - [See The Computers That Powered The Voyager Space Program](https://daily.dev/posts/see-the-computers-that-powered-the-voyager-space-program-z5h1vvzob) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Ingenious Fixes Keeping the Curiosity Rover Rolling](https://daily.dev/posts/the-ingenious-fixes-keeping-the-curiosity-rover-rolling-mayqszzuu) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#embedded](https://daily.dev/tags/embedded), [#nasa](https://daily.dev/tags/nasa) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-s-just-prolonged-voyager-2-s-science-mission-with-a-big-bang-dinvk0y4m) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"NASA’s Just Prolonged Voyager 2’s Science Mission With A Big Bang","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-s-just-prolonged-voyager-2-s-science-mission-with-a-big-bang-dinvk0y4m","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-s-just-prolonged-voyager-2-s-science-mission-with-a-big-bang-dinvk0y4m"},"datePublished":"2026-08-07T02:15:12.777Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:29:08.686Z","description":"JPL engineers executed a 'big bang' switch on Voyager 2, powering down two heaters and another device to free up power from the spacecraft's diminishing RTG...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/3e30aaeb315e8c9cf1134b2f8233e9c3?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/3e30aaeb315e8c9cf1134b2f8233e9c3?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hackaday","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hackaday","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--JhDfhy70--/f_auto,q_auto/v1767541814/logos/hackaday","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-s-just-prolonged-voyager-2-s-science-mission-with-a-big-bang-dinvk0y4m","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"embedded,nasa","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hackaday","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"NASA’s Just Prolonged Voyager 2’s Science Mission With A Big Bang"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-s-just-prolonged-voyager-2-s-science-mission-with-a-big-bang-dinvk0y4m#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How did NASA extend Voyager 2's science mission?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"NASA engineers turned off two heaters and another device that had been keeping the spacecraft's electronics and fuel lines warm, freeing up enough of the diminishing power from its radioisotope thermoelectric generator to extend the mission by roughly one extra year. The heaters had kept fuel lines warm enough to support attitude adjustment thrusters. JPL plans to attempt a similar switch on Voyager 1 to extend its lifespan as well. Follow how engineers squeeze more life from aging hardware constraints on daily.dev."}}]} ```