Voyager 1 Reaches 1 Light-Day Distance After 49 Years

3 articles · Updated · Futura · Jun 15

Voyager 1 is now about 15.8 billion miles from Earth, stretching one-way radio travel time to 23 hours 40 minutes and effectively to a full light-day in November.
That means a command sent Monday morning would not draw a response until Wednesday, while the probe keeps transmitting at just 160 bits per second to giant Earth antenna arrays.
Launched in 1977 for a five-year mission, Voyager 1 used Jupiter and Saturn gravity assists, crossed the heliopause in 2012 and has not changed course since its 1980 Saturn encounter.
NASA expects its plutonium power source to fade below the level needed for the last instruments in the 2030s, after which the spacecraft will continue silently through interstellar space.
Even then, the probe will take 300 years to reach the inner Oort Cloud and about 40,000 years to pass within 1.7 light-years of Gliese 445.

Sources

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Voyager 1 launched in 1977 on a four-year mission and is still flying 49 years later, now so far away that in November 2026 a radio signal will take a full 24

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Overview

In November 2026, NASA's Voyager 1 will become the first spacecraft to reach one light-day from Earth, meaning signals will take a full day each way. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 has spent nearly five decades pushing the boundaries of human exploration and expanding our understanding of the universe beyond the solar system. This milestone highlights the extraordinary scale of its journey and the dedication of the teams supporting it. Voyager 1’s continued operation and data return from interstellar space mark a remarkable achievement in engineering and scientific discovery.

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