NASA’s twin Voyager probes, which launched in 1977, are the longest-running missions to send data home. But as their power supplies wane, scientists are saying goodbye to one instrument on each spacec

The twin probes should operate for about a year before the team is forced to shut off yet more instruments. The Voyager spacecraft have been cruising through interstellar space for more than 47 years,

The 50th birthday is a must, but the Voyager probes should ideally continue to work into the 2030s. To achieve this, however, electricity must be saved.

NEW YORK (AP) — NASA is switching off two science instruments on its long-running twin Voyager spacecraft to save power. The space agency said Wednesday an instrument on Voyager 2 that measures charged particles and cosmic rays will shut off later this month. Last week, NASA powered down an instrument on Voyager 1 designed to study cosmic rays.

Despite these power reductions, both Voyagers still have three functioning instruments collecting data on the Sun's protective bubble and the mysteries of deep space. As of now, Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles from Earth, while Voyager 2 is more than 13 billion miles away, continuing their extraordinary journey into the unknown.

Currently, Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles away (25 billion kilometers), and Voyager 2 is over 13 billion miles away (21 billion kilometers). The twin explorers carry a suite of scientific instruments to gather invaluable data about the interstellar medium.

Mission engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California turned off the cosmic ray subsystem experiment aboard Voyager 1 on Feb. 25 and will shut off Voyager 2's low-energy charged particle instrument on March 24.