Fact of the day
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Space ExplorationVoyager 1
Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object, now in interstellar space.
Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause — the boundary where the solar wind gives way to the interstellar medium — in August 2012.
It is now more than 160 astronomical units from the Sun, so radio signals travelling at light speed take over 22 hours to reach Earth.
Its plutonium power source continues to run a handful of instruments, though engineers expect the spacecraft to fall silent within the next several years.
Reference: NASA JPL — Voyager Mission Status
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