
How does a spacecraft launched in 1977 still transmit data from beyond the heliosphere on less electrical power than a household hallway bulb, nearly five decades after leaving Earth?
Voyager 1 transmits from interstellar space on roughly 22 watts — less than a hallway bulb — thanks to decaying plutonium, a JPL team rationing every watt, and Deep Space Network dishes sensitive enough to catch a signal a tenth of a millionth of a billionth of a watt strong.














