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The "Big Bang" power manoeuvre on Voyager 2

A single, unrepeatable command sequence executed on 9 July 2026 that simultaneously switched off two heaters and a long-obsolete digital tape recorder — kept running solely for the waste heat it gave off — while switching on two different heaters and another device that supplies residual heat, all drawing less power than what was turned off. The net saving is reported as close to ten watts a year, achieved without letting any critical component fall below its survival temperature. Without it, another Voyager 2 instrument would have had to be shut down before the end of 2026; instead all three kept running, and engineers have suggested the technique could be worth roughly two additional years on each spacecraft.

Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.

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Evidence

Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.

Recorded on Voyager 2

  1. The full Grand Tour is cancelled and rebuilt as a two-spacecraft mission
  2. Voyager 2 launches
  3. Voyager 1 launches
  4. Voyager 2 closest approach to Jupiter
  5. Voyager 2 passes Saturn and continues towards Uranus
  6. Voyager 2 reaches Uranus — the only close encounter ever made
  7. Voyager 2 passes Neptune and Triton, ending the planetary programme
  8. Voyager 2 crosses the termination shock at about 84 AU
  9. Voyager 2 crosses the heliopause at 119 AU
  10. Voyager 1's cosmic ray subsystem is switched off
  11. Voyager 2's low-energy charged particle instrument is switched off
  12. Voyager 1's low-energy charged particle instrument due for shutdown
  13. The "Big Bang" power manoeuvre on Voyager 2

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