NASA switches off Voyager 2 instrument to save power

To save power, NASA has switched off another scientific instrument on its long-running Voyager 2 spacecraft.

The space agency said that Voyager 2's plasma science instrument - designed to measure the flow of charged atoms - was powered down in late September so the spacecraft can keep exploring for as long as possible, expected into the 2030s.

NASA turned off a suite of instruments on Voyager 2 and its twin Voyager 1 after they explored the gas giant planets in the 1980s.

Both are currently in interstellar space - the space between stars.

The plasma instrument on Voyager 1 stopped working long ago and was finally shut down in 2007.

Four remaining instruments on Voyager 2 will continue collecting information about magnetic fields and particles.

Its goal is to study the swaths of space beyond the sun's protective bubble.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune.

It is currently more than 19.31 billion kilometres from earth.

Voyager 1 is more than 24.14 billion kilometres from earth.