The most distant human-made objects in the universe are about to shut down. The two NASA probes built in the 70s are still operating, but their power levels are falling every year. NASA will be starting to power off some of the probes systems to keep them going.
According to Scientific American, NASA plans to turn off some systems on the probes. They were originally designed for four years and are still operating. A researcher who has worked with the probes said that they are at 44 and a half years old. We did ten times the warranty on the darn things.
It was possible for the probes to visit each of the planets on their one-way journey away from Earth because of a moment of Cosmic Coordination. New phenomena like volcanic activity on Jupiter's moon Io were found by the probes.
The most celebrated contribution to science was an image that recorded where they had come from: The famous Pale Blue Dot photo showing the Earth as a tiny dot against the blackness of space. Since the photo was taken, scientists and the public have been reminded of the fragile nature of Earth.
The boundary known as the heliopause was passed by the two spaceships in the last five years. The probes on the farthest edges of the solar system are left when the heliopause is reached. The probes are being used to study the gasses floating through the air.
The probes have faced some issues over the last 40 years. There was a power glitch in 2020 and a strange error in the altitude control system in the recent past. Even the most optimistic predictions of their lifespans are out of date.
We will have to say goodbye to these two pioneers, sailing off alone into the dark, after some of their systems are powered down this year.
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