I recently watched a documentary about the ongoing Voyager missions[1], and this same tactic (turning instrument heaters off to save power, hoping the instruments still produce useful data) continues to be used with success.
In that documentary, it was remarked by one of the engineers that scientists often designed these instruments to be more robust than what was expected.
In that documentary, it was remarked by one of the engineers that scientists often designed these instruments to be more robust than what was expected.
[1]: https://www.itsquieterfilm.com/