NASA’s Voyager 1 is expected to reach 16.09 billion miles (25.89 billion kilometers) from Earth on Nov. 18, a distance equal to one light-day, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a release republished by ScienceDaily on Nov. 3. No human-made object has traveled that far, JPL said.
Related: Japan Launches MMX to Bring Back the First Samples From Mars’ Moon Phobos.
What one light-day means
At that distance, a radio command from Earth takes a full day to reach the spacecraft, and a reply takes another day, JPL said. Voyager 1 travels at about 38,000 mph through interstellar space, according to the release.
“You send your message and then you go home and you wait two days,” Voyager project manager Suzanne Dodd said in the release.
The October blackout
NASA lost contact with Voyager 1 on Oct. 18 and 19, when the Deep Space Network failed to detect its signal on two attempts 24 hours apart, JPL said. The signal returned on Oct. 20, about 48 hours after the interruption began.
Engineers found that one set of thrusters had stopped working and that the spacecraft had switched to backup thrusters on its own, JPL said. NASA has not determined the cause. Mission manager Kareem Badaruddin said it was the first time the team had seen the spacecraft do this.
Saving power
In early September, engineers replaced three heating devices on Voyager 1 with lower-power alternatives in an operation nicknamed the “Big Bang,” JPL said. Without it, NASA could have had to shut down another instrument as early as summer 2027.
Each Voyager loses about 4 watts of power a year as its plutonium power source decays, according to the release. Voyager 1 launched in 1977 with 10 science instruments. More space coverage is in Science.
Sources
Read next in Science
Most read this week
- Abdul El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood Claims: What’s Confirmed and What Isn’t
- Stock Futures Erase a 2.4% Overnight Drop as Markets Digest Democrats’ Sweep of Congress
- Spain Transport Minister Óscar Puente Quits 26 Days Before Election Over Crash That Killed 69
- GM Korea’s Sales Jump 26.6% on Chevrolet Exports as Hyundai Slips 6.3% and Korean Factory Growth Cools
- Boston Plans to Close 3 Schools in 2028 as Enrollment Drops as Much as 58%
Latest
- Pentagon Awards $1.6 Billion in Contracts, Led by $1 Billion for Emergency Response
- CISA Flags Actively Exploited SonicWall VPN Flaw, CVE-2026-19868
- Secret Service and Air Force Test Drone Interceptors at MacDill in Counter-UAS Drill
- 7,000 Troops Begin Simulated Combat in Hawaii as French Forces Join Army Drill
- Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao Tours Blount Island, the Marines’ Prepositioning Hub