NASA shuts off key instrument on Voyager 1 to keep spacecraft operating

NASA engineers have turned off a science instrument, called the Low-energy Charged Particles experiment (LECP) aboard Voyager 1, to keep the spacecraft operating. The nuclear-powered spacecraft is running low on power, and turning off the LECP is considered the "best way to keep humanity’s first interstellar explorer going", NASA said. The agency launched the Voyager 1 space probe in 1977.