Voyager Lifetime Computed

We can maintain communications with both Voyagers using a 70 meter antenna at 46 bps until 2037, so the telecommunications is not a problem. Both Voyagers have plenty of hydrazine - Voyager 1 is expected to have enough propellant until 2040 and Voyager 2 until 2034. The limiting factor is the RTGs. The power output from the RTGs is slowly dropping each year. By 2000, there won't be enough power for the UVS (ultraviolet spectrometer) instrument. By 2010, the power will have dropped low enough such that not all of the fields and particles instruments can be powered on at the same time. A power sharing plan will go into effect then, where some of the F&P instruments are powered on, and others off. The spacecraft can last in this mode for about another 10 years, and after that the power will probably be too low to maintain the spacecraft.

Ron Baalke