Still, the Voyager probes have far exceeded expectations.

Looking at engineers'
testimonials from when it was built, Dodd said the original designers were told not
to worry about reaching interstellar space and focus on making sure the Voyagers
could observe Jupiter and Saturn.

�Basically they kind of ignored those directions, nodded their heads and did what
they wanted to make it capable of getting to interstellar space,� she said.

As long as they are still functioning, both Voyager spacecraft will continue to
collect data and send it back to us through at least 2020, and possibly until 2025.
Even if something breaks and they are suddenly unable to hear anything from Earth,
they will keep sending data back, repeating the same sets of observations until
they run out of power.

But the radioisotope batteries on Voyager 1 and 2 are diminishing, putting out four
Watts less per year. Mission managers will one day have to prioritize which
instruments are most important during the voyage through interstellar space,
shutting them off one by one as the years go on. After that, both probes will
remain within range of our antennas until perhaps 2036. Though scientific data
won�t be returned, engineering data could still come back if there is enough power
to send a signal. All this means that the mission isn�t yet done.

�We�ve just stepped into interstellar space,� said Dodd. �We�re just going across
the horizon line and there are many more discoveries to come.�