NASA Bought Voyager 2 Another Year of Life With an Engineering Move Called the "Big Bang"

On August 4, 2026, NASA carried out an engineering procedure nicknamed the "Big Bang" to free up power aboard Voyager 2, a spacecraft nearly 49 years into its journey and roughly 13 billion miles from Earth. The move delayed shutting down a third science instrument by at least a year, and could soon be repeated on Voyager 1.