NASA engineers have successfully extended the operational life of the Voyager 2 probe by repurposing a small reserve of backup power. The spacecraft, which launched in 1977, is currently traveling through interstellar space, far beyond the reach of the sun’s heliosphere. As the probe’s radioisotope thermoelectric generators continue to lose power due to the natural decay of plutonium, mission controllers have been forced to make difficult decisions regarding which scientific instruments to keep active.

To avoid shutting down a scientific instrument prematurely, the team decided to tap into a small reservoir of backup power that was originally set aside for safety mechanisms. This adjustment allows the probe to continue gathering and transmitting data from its suite of instruments for a longer period than previously projected. While the mission is now over 46 years old, NASA officials state that this power management strategy is a necessary step to maximize the scientific return from the probe as it continues its journey into deep space. The probe remains the only human-made object to have visited all four giant outer planets, and its current mission provides unique data on the environment beyond our solar system.