Last week, NASA announced its decision to turn off one of Voyager 2’s scientific instruments to save energy. The plasma science instrument is now silent. It was used to measure the amount of plasma, or electrically charged atoms, as well as the direction it is flowing. The same instrument on Voyager 1 stopped working in 1980.
It is just amazing that the two Voyagers continue on their voyage beyond our solar system while sharing the experience with us. As of a few minutes ago, Voyager 1 was about 15.4 billion miles away (Voyager 2 is a little closer) and it took about 22 hours and 54 minutes for light to travel from the Voyager 1 spacecraft to Earth.
You can go to this NASA site to learn more about the mission as well as the status of the various scientific instruments.
Our Awesome Universe 