Dear Voyager science leadership,
The Voyager 2 spacecraft entered into voltage management in the blind, between
the V2 DSN passes on Friday and Saturday. The flight team noticed some changes
in power and thermal engineering values at the start of Saturday’s V2 pass
(April fool’s day!) that indicated a switch to voltage management had occurred.
The spacecraft is operating nominally and continuing to downlink science and
engineering data as expected. The flight team will continue to watch the power
and thermal engineering values over the next few weeks since this is a new state
for Voyager. Fernando Peralta will be monitoring the science engineering
channels and will notify you if he sees any unexpected changes. When you get a
chance, please look at your instrument data from Saturday’s pass (and subsequent
passes). If you see anything unexpected, please let us know. We are entering
into a new phase of Voyager 2 operations where, after 45.5 years, the spacecraft
voltage is no longer being regulated. This change may affect some instrument
power supplies as the voltage continues to very slowly drop.
Best,
Linda
Oscillator changes in July, 2024