Question: Can the Voyager imaging cameras be turned back on?
Answer: It is possible for the cameras to be turned on, but it
is not a priority for Voyager's Interstellar Mission. After
Voyager 1 took its last image (the "Solar System Family
Portrait" in 1990), the cameras were turned off to save power
and memory for the instruments expected to detect the new
charged particle environment of interstellar space. Mission
managers removed the software from both spacecraft that controls
the camera. The computers on the ground that understand the
software and analyze the images do not exist anymore. The
cameras and their heaters have also been exposed for years to
the very cold conditions at the deep reaches of our solar
system. Even if mission managers recreated the computers on the
ground, reloaded the software onto the spacecraft and were able
to turn the cameras back on, it is not clear that they would
work. In addition, it is very dark where the Voyagers are now.
While you could still see some brighter stars and