Gregory's ServerBoth Voyager probes are powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which convert heat from decaying plutonium Pu-238 into electricity using thermocouples.
In 47 years, power levels have dropped by over 50%. Many instruments and heaters have been turned off.
The thrusters enabled in August were cold and had to be warmed up before turning on. One of the main heaters in the spacecraft was turned off for 1 hour, since it was risky to turn off any other subsystem.
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2/n
Voyager uses Hydrazine thrusters for attitude (orientation) control, not gyros or momentum wheels.
There is enough Hydrazine to last until 2040 for V1 and 2048 for V2. But more likely, fuel line clogging and loss of power will end the mission in the 2030s.
The spacecraft contains 2 sets (branches) of 6 attitude propulsion thrusters and one set of 4 trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) thrusters. In Aug, V1 switched from the TCM set to a previously used set.
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19810001583/downloads/19810001583.pdf
3/n
Voyager uses Hydrazine thrusters for attitude (orientation) control, not gyros or momentum wheels.
There is enough Hydrazine to last until 2040 for V1 and 2048 for V2. But more likely, fuel line clogging and loss of power will end the mission in the 2030s.
The spacecraft contains 2 sets (branches) of 6 attitude propulsion thrusters and one set of 4 trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) thrusters. In Aug, V1 switched from the TCM set to a previously used set.