Article Posted on : - Nov 15, 2011

Artist's concept of NASA's Voyager spacecraft. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA (BNS): NASA's Voyager 2 has successfully switched to the backup set of thrusters that controls the roll of the spacecraft.

Deep Space Network personnel sent commands to the spacecraft to make the change on November 4 and have received confirmation that the switch has been made.

Voyager 2 is currently located about 9 billion miles (14 billion kilometers) from Earth in the heliosheath -- the outermost layer of the heliosphere where the solar wind, which streams out from the sun, is slowed by the pressure of interstellar gas.

The change allows engineers to reduce the amount of power that the 34-year-old spacecraft needs to operate by turning off the heater that keeps the fuel to the primary thrusters warm.

Although the rate of energy generated by Voyager 2's nuclear power source continues to decline, by reducing its power requirements, engineers expect the spacecraft can continue to operate for another decade.

The switch also allows the spacecraft to use previously unused thrusters as it continues its journey toward interstellar space, beyond our solar system.

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are each equipped with six sets, or pairs, of thrusters to control the pitch, yaw and roll motions of the spacecraft. These include three pairs of primary thrusters and three backup, or redundant, pairs. Both spacecraft are now using all three sets of their backup thrusters.

The Voyagers were built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which continues to operate both spacecraft.