NASA Executes Operation 'Big Bang' to Keep Voyager 2 Science Alive in Interstellar Space.

NASA Operation ‘Big Bang’ Extends Mission Life for Aging Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 Spacecraft

NASA has reported significant progress in its power-management strategy for the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, officially dubbed Operation "Big Bang." As the spacecraft continue their journey through interstellar space, their onboard radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) produce less electricity each year due to the natural radioactive decay of Plutonium-238 and operational degradation.

Under Operation Big Bang, NASA engineers successfully executed a power-saving maneuver on Voyager 2 by powering down high-energy systems and re-routing backup power reserves to its primary science instruments. This strategy allowed NASA to keep both remaining active scientific instruments the Plasma Wave Science (PWS) sensor and the Magnetometer (MAG) operational simultaneously, avoiding the painful necessity of shutting down one to save the other.

NASA estimates that under this optimized energy configuration, Voyager 2 has secured enough electrical margin to keep both science instruments powered and gathering interstellar data for at least another year.

Following the successful execution on Voyager 2, NASA plans to replicate the exact same power-management procedure on Voyager 1, which is traveling even further from Earth in deep space.

NASA engineers safely managed power redirection on equipment built in the 1970s. The Voyager spacecraft was constructed with an internal voltage regulator that used dedicated backup wiring to absorb surge currents. During the Big Bang operation, NASA engineers disabled this backup voltage system and instead redirected a small amount of reserve current directly to the scientific instruments. While there was a minimal risk of current fluctuations, this allowed humanity's only direct interstellar sensors to remain operational.

Keeping both instruments functioning is crucial for astrophysics. Voyager 1 and 2 are the only two man-made objects currently collecting data outside the heliopause of our solar system (the bubble formed by the solar wind). The magnetometer measures the direction and strength of the interstellar magnetic field, while the plasma wave sensor measures electron density. Combining data from both instruments simultaneously provides scientists with a clear, real-time map of the interaction of solar storms with interstellar space.

Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, meaning that radio signals traveling at the speed of light would take over 22 hours to reach the spacecraft round trip. Every command sent during the Big Bang operation had to be meticulously planned. Because engineers had to wait almost two full days to receive telemetric data confirming whether the command was successful without automatically shutting down the system.

 

 

Source: NASA 

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NASA Operation ‘Big Bang’ Extends Mission Life for Aging Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 Spacecraft

NASA has reported significant progress in its power-management strategy for the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, officially dubbed Operation "Big Bang." As the spacecraft continue their journey through interstellar space, their onboard radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) produce less electricity each year due to the natural radioactive decay of Plutonium-238 and operational degradation.

Under Operation Big Bang, NASA engineers successfully executed a power-saving maneuver on Voyager 2 by powering down high-energy systems and re-routing backup power reserves to its primary science instruments. This strategy allowed NASA to keep both remaining active scientific instruments the Plasma Wave Science (PWS) sensor and the Magnetometer (MAG) operational simultaneously, avoiding the painful necessity of shutting down one to save the other.

NASA estimates that under this optimized energy configuration, Voyager 2 has secured enough electrical margin to keep both science instruments powered and gathering interstellar data for at least another year.

Following the successful execution on Voyager 2, NASA plans to replicate the exact same power-management procedure on Voyager 1, which is traveling even further from Earth in deep space.

NASA engineers safely managed power redirection on equipment built in the 1970s. The Voyager spacecraft was constructed with an internal voltage regulator that used dedicated backup wiring to absorb surge currents. During the Big Bang operation, NASA engineers disabled this backup voltage system and instead redirected a small amount of reserve current directly to the scientific instruments. While there was a minimal risk of current fluctuations, this allowed humanity's only direct interstellar sensors to remain operational.

Keeping both instruments functioning is crucial for astrophysics. Voyager 1 and 2 are the only two man-made objects currently collecting data outside the heliopause of our solar system (the bubble formed by the solar wind). The magnetometer measures the direction and strength of the interstellar magnetic field, while the plasma wave sensor measures electron density. Combining data from both instruments simultaneously provides scientists with a clear, real-time map of the interaction of solar storms with interstellar space.

Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from Earth, meaning that radio signals traveling at the speed of light would take over 22 hours to reach the spacecraft round trip. Every command sent during the Big Bang operation had to be meticulously planned. Because engineers had to wait almost two full days to receive telemetric data confirming whether the command was successful without automatically shutting down the system.

 

 

Source: NASA