Voyager 1 approaches a historic milestone

Voyager 1 spacecraft approaches One light-day from Earth, 25.9 billion km distance 

NASA's spacecraft is about to become the first human-made object to reach a distance of one light day from Earth. Voyager 1 spacecraft is approaching a historic milestone by becoming the first human-made object to reach a distance of one light day from Earth. Currently about 15.7 billion miles (25.3 billion km's) from our planet, Voyager 1 will be 16.1 billion miles (25.9 billion km's) away by 2026, meaning it will take 24 hours for a signal to travel between Earth and the probe.

Launched in 1977 alongside its twin, Voyager 2, Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space in 2012 and remains the farthest human-made object from Earth. From the moment Voyager 1 reaches this milestone, commands sent to the spacecraft will take a full day to reach it and another day for confirmation to return. According to Science Clock, the satellite is going to be 16.1 billion miles or 25.9 billion km's away on 15 Nov, 2026, 49 years, 2 months and 10 days since it launched. This means that the spacecraft travels at an approximate speed of 37,300 miles per hour (over 60,000 km's per hour) or more than 10 miles per second. At its current distance, it takes about a day to send commands to Voyager 1 and another day for it to respond.

NASA launched Voyager 1 on 05 Sep, 1977, to explore the giant gas planets Jupiter and Saturn, as well as some of their moons, and completed this mission in November 1980. After 10 years, the space agency began the Voyager Interstellar Mission, where it would explore the space outside the vicinity of our solar system. By 2004, it had entered the space where the solar wind from the sun slows down, with the satellite entering interstellar space in 2012. The satellite is powered by three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which are expected to last until the 2030s, meaning we can still get a few years out of the Voyager 1. Its journey was actually almost cut short back in 2023, when a bit flip or corruption caused a critical memory error which prevented it from sending telemetry to move and align the spacecraft. Thankfully, the scientists and engineers were able to fix the issue, allowing it to continue its mission and gather data from the farthest corners of deep space.

Voyager 1's journey has already yielded iconic discoveries, including flybys of Jupiter and Saturn, and the famous "pale blue dot" image of Earth, suggested by astrophysicist Carl Sagan. Its twin, Voyager 2, crossed the outer edge of the solar system in 2018 and remains the second-most distant human-made object. Although it feels that Voyager 1 has covered a massive amount of distance since it was launched, it’s actually minuscule relative to the scale of the universe. Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our solar system, is four light-years away, meaning it will take Voyager 1 at least 73,000 years to reach it at its current speed. Its batteries would have been long dead by then, but NASA also put a golden record on the spacecraft with the hopes that an alien civilization would find it and initiate contact in the far future.

Despite having about 3 million times less memory than a modern smartphone, the Voyagers continue to function, making them the longest-running missions in NASA's history. Voyager 1's nuclear power source is expected to keep it operational for at least another year.