Letting go is hard, especially when it concerns an irreplaceable space probe like the two Voyagers. Fortunately JPL engineers have managed to pull off a ‘big bang’ switch on Voyager 2, involving two heaters and another device that was kept on to keep providing sufficient heat to the spacecraft to allow it to keep functioning. After all, while the vacuum of space isn’t cold, out in deep space you’re radiating away all your precious heat.
Unfortunately the official press release in exceedingly limited in details, but The Register was kind enough to already nag a NASA spokesperson about it, which gives us some technical details. The short version is that these heaters don’t just keep the electronics within a happy operating range, they also keep the fuel lines warm and capable of providing fuel for attitude adjustments.
With this switch apparently enough of the rapidly diminishing power from the RTG has been freed up that the Voyager 2 has just gained a whole extra year on its extended mission. The JPL team hopes to perform the same switch on the Voyager 1 spacecraft soon, giving it a similar boost to its expected lifespan, before both of them go quiet in the depths of space.
Thanks to [Mark Stevens] for the tip.
I wonder what would happen if Voyager 2 was fitted with a bog standard 300 kt nuke. Once it’s out of power we could detonate it and listen for RF emissions, maybe even observe it with telescope. Could be fun to reflect electrons off Solar System bow shock.
Remember, the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down.
We generally avoid launching nuclear bombs into orbit, and have globally made it illegal to do so, for a few fairly convincing reasons.