Editing Voyager 2 (section)

== Reductions in capabilities ==
As the power from the RTG slowly reduces, various items of equipment have been turned off on the spacecraft.<ref name="voyagerjplnasagov">{{Cite web |url=https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/thirty-year-plan/ |title=Voyager – Operations Plan to the End Mission |website=voyager.jpl.nasa.gov |language=en |access-date=September 20, 2019 |archive-date=September 10, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200910162755/https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/science/thirty-year-plan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The first science equipment turned off on ''Voyager 2'' was the PPS in 1991, which saved 1.2 watts.<ref name="voyagerjplnasagov" />

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year || End of specific capabilities as a result of the available electrical power limitations<ref name="spacecraft lifetime"/>
|-
| 1998 || Termination of scan platform and UVS observations<ref name="voyagerjplnasagov" />
|-
| 2007 || Termination of ''Digital Tape Recorder'' (DTR) operations (It was no longer needed due to a failure on the ''High Waveform Receiver'' on the ''Plasma Wave Subsystem'' (PWS) on June 30, 2002.)<ref name="spacecraft lifetime"/>
|-
| 2008 || Power off ''Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment'' (PRA)<ref name="voyagerjplnasagov" />
|-
| 2019  || CRS heater turned off<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7446|title=A New Plan for Keeping NASA's Oldest Explorers Going|website=NASA/JPL|access-date=January 2, 2020|archive-date=April 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413080726/https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7446|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| 2021 || Turn off heater for Low Energy Charged Particle instrument<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/science/nasa-voyager-deep-space-network.html|title=Earth to Voyager 2: After a Year in the Darkness, We Can Talk to You Again|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 12, 2021|access-date=February 12, 2021|last1=Stirone|first1=Shannon|archive-date=February 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212100818/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/science/nasa-voyager-deep-space-network.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| 2023 || Software update reroutes power from the voltage regulator to keep the science instruments operating<ref name="newpower"/>
|-
| 2024 || Plasma Science instrument (PLS) turned off<ref>{{cite web |title=NASA Turns Off Science Instrument to Save Voyager 2 Power|website=[[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] |url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-turns-off-science-instrument-to-save-voyager-2-power/|date=1 October 2024}}</ref>
|-
| 2030 approx || Can no longer power any instrument<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/record-breaking-voyager-spacecraft-begin-to-power-down/|title=Record-Breaking Voyager Spacecraft Begin to Power Down|journal=Scientific American|date=July 2022|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0722-26|pmid=39016957 |access-date=August 14, 2023|archive-date=June 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623222423/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/record-breaking-voyager-spacecraft-begin-to-power-down/|url-status=live |last1=Folger |first1=T. |volume=327 |issue=1 |page=26 }}</ref>
|-
| 2036 || Out of range of the Deep Space Network<ref name="jet propulsion laboratory">{{Cite web|title=Voyager – Frequently Asked Questions|url=https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/frequently-asked-questions/|website=Jet Propulsion Laboratory|access-date=December 11, 2018|archive-date=August 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813133216/https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/frequently-asked-questions/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|}

=== Concerns with the orientation thrusters ===
Some [[Spacecraft propulsion|thrusters]] needed to control the correct attitude of the spacecraft and to point its high-gain antenna in the direction of Earth are out of use due to clogging problems in their [[hydrazine]] injector. The spacecraft no longer has backups available for its thruster system and "everything onboard is running on single-string" as acknowledged by Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory|JPL]], in an interview with [[Ars Technica]].<ref name="clark-2023">{{cite web | last=Clark | first=Stephen | title=NASA wants the Voyagers to age gracefully, so it's time for a software patch | website=Ars Technica | date=October 24, 2023 | url=https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/10/nasa-wants-the-voyagers-to-age-gracefully-so-its-time-for-a-software-patch/ | access-date=October 27, 2023 | archive-date=October 27, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027215228/https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/10/nasa-wants-the-voyagers-to-age-gracefully-so-its-time-for-a-software-patch/ | url-status=live }}</ref> NASA has decided to patch the computer software in order to modify the functioning of the remaining thrusters to slow down the clogging of the small diameter hydrazine injector jets. Before uploading the software update on the ''[[Voyager 1]]'' computer, NASA will first try the procedure with ''Voyager 2'', which is closer to Earth.<ref name="clark-2023" />