Voyager 1 powers down LECP

1/ NASA said it shut down Voyager 1’s Low-Energy Charged Particles experiment, or LECP, on April 17, 2026, to conserve power on the nearly 49-year-old spacecraft. The move was aimed at keeping the probe operating longer as its nuclear power supply continues to decline. (science.nasa.gov) 2/ LECP had run almost continuously since Voyager 1 launched in 1977. The instrument measures low-energy charged particles, including ions, electrons and cosmic rays from the solar system and the galaxy. (jpl.nasa.gov) 3/ This is part of a long-planned power-management strategy, not a sudden failure. NASA and JPL have said for years that Voyager’s instruments would have to be turned off one by one as available electrical power falls. (jpl.nasa.gov) 4/ Voyager 1 is still operating in interstellar space. NASA says the spacecraft crossed the heliopause in August 2012, becoming the first human-made object to enter the region beyond the Sun’s protective bubble. (science.jpl.nasa.gov) 5/ After the April shutdown, NASA said Voyager 1 would keep returning data from its remaining functioning instruments. The agency’s April update said the spacecraft would continue science operations while engineers preserve power for critical systems. (science.nasa.gov) 6/ The remaining science focus is narrower now. NASA’s material on Voyager says the still-active measurements in deep space center on particles, magnetic fields and plasma waves, with the mission continuing to communicate through the Deep Space Network. (science.nasa.gov) 7/ One wrinkle: NASA’s current Voyager 1 mission page, published days ago, still lists LECP among four still-functioning instruments. NASA’s April 17 mission update, however, specifically says engineers sent commands that day to shut LECP down. The April update is the more specific and time-stamped account. (science.nasa.gov) 8/ The broader context is distance and age. NASA says Voyager 1 will be about one light-day from Earth by late 2026, and every watt matters because the spacecraft’s radioisotope power source weakens over time. (helio.data.nasa.gov) 9/ NASA has framed these shutdowns as a tradeoff to extend the mission as long as possible. In its earlier power-strategy update, JPL said Voyager 1 could continue operating four science instruments until another shutdown became necessary; the April 2026 LECP step is one of those planned reductions. (jpl.nasa.gov) 10/ So the practical takeaway is simple: Voyager 1 is still alive, still talking to Earth, and still doing science — just with one fewer instrument. The next milestones will come from NASA’s Voyager updates and JPL as engineers decide how long the spacecraft can keep its remaining systems running. (science.nasa.gov)