VISUAL ARCHIVE / IMAGE STORY
A Spacecraft Living on Fewer Watts
Voyager 1 relies on plutonium-powered radioisotope thermoelectric generators rather than sunlight.
Voyager 1 relies on plutonium-powered radioisotope thermoelectric generators rather than sunlight. The spacecraft loses approximately four watts of electrical power each year, forcing mission controllers to make increasingly difficult decisions about which systems and instruments can remain active.
THE OBSERVATION
What we can actually see.
NASA’s April 2026 update records the shutdown of Voyager 1’s Low-energy Charged Particles instrument, leaving plasma-wave and magnetic-field science. The radioisotope power supply loses roughly four watts of electrical output each year. An August update reports a power-saving reconfiguration completed on Voyager 2 while the corresponding Voyager 1 work was still planned in that account.
THE ILLUSTRATION
What the artwork imagines.
Voyager 1 relies on plutonium-powered radioisotope thermoelectric generators rather than sunlight. The spacecraft loses approximately four watts of electrical power each year, forcing mission controllers to make increasingly difficult decisions about which systems and instruments can remain active. The viewpoint, illumination, colors and simultaneous arrangement are artistic choices. This is a cinematic illustration, not a direct instrument image or a quantitative reconstruction of every feature.
FROM THE ILLUSTRATED ARTICLE
The story that inspired it.
Voyager 1 can still probe plasma and magnetic fields beyond the heliopause, but keeping the spacecraft alive requires choices about which measurements survive. Mission longevity and the remaining science inventory are separate outcomes. This frame focuses on a spacecraft living on fewer watts, within the complete illustrated article and its source-linked research context.
Read Voyager 1: The Space Between Stars Is Speaking. We're Running Out of Time to Listen.CHECK THE RECORD
The image interprets the research below. Follow the original work for the measurements and limits behind the scene.
NASA Shuts Off Instrument on Voyager 1 to Keep Spacecraft Operating NASA Engineers Help Prolong Voyager 2's Science MissionOTHER IMAGE STORIES
Keep looking.
Voyager Beyond the Heliopause
A Boundary Without a Solid Wall
The Mark Shared by Titan and PlutoEXPLORE IN 3D / MAP 12
Locate the wider Galactic setting
Explore an illustrative Milky Way map. It does not supply a measured source location or live Voyager position.
Open Milky Way map