Get the latest tech news
An interstellar instrument takes a final bow. The Plasma Science Experiment aboard NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft turns off after 47 years and 15 billion miles.
Built by MIT researchers, the Plasma Science Experiment aboard the Voyager 2 spacecraft took measurements for the last 47 years and 15 billion miles, before shutting down on Sept. 26.
But nearly half a century and 15 billion miles later, NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft have far exceeded their original mission, winging past the outer planets and busting out of our heliosphere, beyond the influence of the sun. The experiment played a crucial role in confirming the moment when Voyager 2 crossed the heliosphere and moved outside of the sun’s regime, into interstellar space. Keeping two 1970s-era spacecraft going for 47 years and counting has been an amazing feat of JPL engineering prowess — you can google the most recent rescue when Voyager 1 lost some memory in November of 2023 and stopped sending data.
Or read this on r/technology