Voyager 1

Voyager 1 is a space probe

launched by NASA on
September 5, 1977. Part of the
Voyager program to study the
outer Solar System, Voyager 1
launched 16 days after its twin,
Voyager 2. Having operated for
40 years, 6 months and
26 days as of March 31, 2018,
the spacecraft still
communicates with the Deep
Space Network to receive
routine commands and return
data. At a distance of 141 AU
(2.11 × 1010 km),
approximately 21 billion
kilometers (13 billion miles)
from the Sun as of January 2,
2018,[3] it is the farthest
spacecraft and man-made
object from Earth.
Voyager 1

Model of the Voyager spacecraft

design

Mission type Outer planetary,

heliosphere, and
interstellar
medium
exploration

Operator NASA / JPL

COSPAR ID 1977-084A[1]

SATCAT no. 10321[2]

Website voyager.jpl
.nasa.gov

Mission duration 40 years,

The probe's objectives
included flybys of Jupiter,
Saturn and Saturn's large
moon, Titan. While the
spacecraft's course could have
been altered to include a Pluto
encounter by forgoing the
Titan flyby, exploration of the
moon, which was known to
have a substantial atmosphere,
took priority.[4][5][6] It studied
the weather, magnetic fields
and rings of the two planets
and was the first probe to
provide detailed images of
their moons.
After completing its primary
mission with the flyby of
Saturn on November 12, 1980,
Voyager 1 became the third of
five artificial objects to achieve
the escape velocity that will
allow them to leave the Solar
System. On August 25, 2012,
Voyager 1 became the first
spacecraft to cross the
heliopause and enter the
interstellar medium.[7]

In a further testament to the

robustness of Voyager 1, the
Voyager team completed a
successful test of the
spacecraft's "trajectory
correction maneuver" (TCM)
thrusters on November 28,
2017. The last time these
backup thrusters were fired up
was in November 1980.
Voyager project manager
Suzanne Dodd anticipates that
successful utilization of the
TCM thrusters will extend the
Voyager mission by an
additional "two to three
years".[8]

Voyager 1 's extended mission

is expected to continue until
around 2025 when its
radioisotope thermoelectric
generators will no longer
supply enough electric power
to operate its scientific
instruments.

Mission background
History

In the 1960s, a Grand Tour to

study the outer planets was
proposed which prompted
NASA to begin work on a
mission in the early 1970s.[9]
Information gathered by the
Pioneer 10 spacecraft helped
Voyager's engineers design
Voyager to cope more
effectively with the intense
radiation environment around
Jupiter.[10]

Initially, Voyager 1 was

planned as "Mariner 11" of the
Mariner program. Due to
budget cuts, the mission was
scaled back to be a flyby of
Jupiter and Saturn and
renamed the Mariner Jupiter-
Saturn probes. As the program
progressed, the name was later
changed to Voyager, since the
probe designs began to differ
greatly from previous Mariner
missions.[11]

Spacecraft
components

The 3.7 m (12 ft) diameter high gain

dish antenna used on the Voyager craft
Voyager 1 was constructed by
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
[12][13][14] It has 16 hydrazine
thrusters, three-axis
stabilization gyroscopes, and
referencing instruments to
keep the probe's radio antenna
pointed toward Earth.
Collectively, these instruments
are part of the Attitude and
Articulation Control Subsystem
(AACS), along with redundant
units of most instruments and
8 backup thrusters. The
spacecraft also included 11
scientific instruments to study
celestial objects such as
planets as it travels through
space.[15]

Communication
system

The radio communication

system of Voyager 1 was
designed to be used up to and
beyond the limits of the Solar
System. The communication
system includes a 3.7-meter
(12 ft) diameter parabolic dish
high-gain antenna to send and
receive radio waves via the
three Deep Space Network
stations on the Earth.[16] The
craft normally transmits data
to Earth over Deep Space
Network Channel 18, using a
frequency of either 2.3 GHz or
8.4 GHz, while signals from
Earth to Voyager are
transmitted at 2.1 GHz.[17]

When Voyager 1 is unable to

communicate directly with the
Earth, its digital tape recorder
(DTR) can record about 64
kilobytes of data for
transmission at another
time.[18] Signals from Voyager
1 take over 19 hours to reach
Earth.[3]

Power

Voyager 1 has three

radioisotope thermoelectric
generators (RTGs) mounted on
a boom. Each MHW-RTG
contains 24 pressed
plutonium-238 oxide
spheres.[19] The RTGs
generated about 470 W of
electric power at the time of
launch, with the remainder
being dissipated as waste
heat.[20] The power output of
the RTGs declines over time
(due to the 87.7-year half-life
of the fuel and degradation of
the thermocouples), but the
craft's RTGs will continue to
support some of its operations
until 2025.[15][19]
Diagram of RTG fuel container,
showing the plutonium-238
oxide spheres
Diagram of RTG shell, showing
the power-producing silicon-
germanium thermocouples
 Model of an RTG unit

As of March 31, 2018, Voyager

1 has 72.57% of the
plutonium-238 that it had at
launch. By 2050, it will have
56.5% left.

Computers
Unlike the other onboard
instruments, the operation of
the cameras for visible light is
not autonomous, but rather it
is controlled by an imaging
parameter table contained in
one of the on-board digital
computers, the Flight Data
Subsystem (FDS). Since the
1990s, space probes usually
have completely autonomous
cameras.[21]

The computer command

subsystem (CCS) controls the
cameras. The CCS contains
fixed computer programs such
as command decoding, fault
detection and correction
routines, antenna pointing
routines, and spacecraft
sequencing routines. This
computer is an improved
version of the one that was
used in the 1970s Viking
orbiters.[22] The hardware in
both custom-built CCS
subsystems in the Voyagers is
identical. There is only a minor
software modification for one
of them that has a scientific
subsystem that the other lacks.
The Attitude and Articulation
Control Subsystem (AACS)
controls the spacecraft
orientation (its attitude). It
keeps the high-gain antenna
pointing towards the Earth,
controls attitude changes, and
points the scan platform. The
custom-built AACS systems on
both Voyagers are the
same.[23][24]

Scientific instruments
 Instrument
Abr. Description
Name

Utilized a two-camera system (narrow-angle/wide-an

Jupiter, Saturn and other objects along the trajectory

Filters

Narrow Angle Camera Filters[25]

Name Wavelength Spectrum Sensitivity
Clear 280–640 nm
UV 280–370 nm
Imaging Science Violet 350–450 nm
System (ISS)
Blue 430–530 nm
(disabled)
' ' '
Green 530–640 nm
' ' '
Orange 590–640 nm
' ' '

Principal investigator: Bradford Smith / University of Arizon

Data: PDS/PDI data catalog, PDS/PRN data catalog

Utilized the telecommunications system of the Voyag

physical properties of planets and satellites (ionosph
Radio Science
gravity fields, densities) and the amount and size dist
System (RSS)
rings and the ring dimensions. More
(disabled)
Principal investigator: G. Tyler / Stanford University PDS/P

Data: PDS/PPI data catalog, PDS/PRN data catalog

Investigates both global and local energy balance an

Infrared
Vertical temperature profiles are also obtained from t
Interferometer
(IRIS) as the composition, thermal properties, and size of pa
Spectrometer
Principal investigator: Rudolf Hanel / NASA Goddard Space
(disabled)
 Data: PDS/PRN data catalog, PDS/PRN expanded data catal
NSSDC Jupiter data archive

Ultraviolet Designed to measure atmospheric properties, and to

Spectrometer (UVS) Principal investigator: A. Broadfoot / University of Southern

(disabled) Data: PDS/PRN data catalog

Designed to investigate the magnetic fields of Jupiter

the solar wind with the magnetospheres of these plan
Triaxial Fluxgate
interplanetary space out to the boundary between th
Magnetometer (MAG)
field of interstellar space. More
(active)
Principal investigator: Norman F. Ness / NASA Goddard Spa

Data: PDS/PPI data catalog, NSSDC data archive

Investigates the microscopic properties of the plasma

Plasma
the energy range from 5 eV to 1 keV. More
Spectrometer (PLS)
Principal investigator: John Richardson / MIT (website)
(defective)
Data: PDS/PPI data catalog, NSSDC data archive

Measures the differential in energy fluxes and angula

Low Energy
and the differential in energy ion composition.
Charged Particle
(LECP) Principal investigator: Stamatios Krimigis / JHU / APL / Un
Instrument
UMD website / KU website)
(active)
Data: UMD data plotting, PDS/PPI data catalog, NSSDC data

Determines the origin and acceleration process, life h

of interstellar cosmic rays, the nucleosynthesis of ele
Cosmic Ray
behavior of cosmic rays in the interplanetary medium
System (CRS)
energetic-particle environment. More
(active)
Principal investigator: Edward Stone / Caltech / NASA God

Data: PDS/PPI data catalog, NSSDC data archive

Planetary Radio Utilizes a sweep-frequency radio receiver to study the

Astronomy Jupiter and Saturn. More
(PRA)
Investigation Principal investigator: James Warwick / University of Colora

(disabled) Data: PDS/PPI data catalog, NSSDC data archive

Photopolarimeter Utilized a telescope with a polarizer to gather informa

(PPS)
System composition of Jupiter and Saturn and information on
 properties and density for both planets. More
(defective) Principal investigator: Arthur Lane / JPL (PDS/PRN website

Data: PDS/PRN data catalog

Provides continuous, sheath-independent measureme

Plasma Wave profiles at Jupiter and Saturn as well as basic informa
System (PWS) interaction, useful in studying the magnetospheres.
(active) Principal investigator: Donald Gurnett / University of Iowa

Data: PDS/PPI data catalog

For more details on the

Voyager space probes'
identical instrument packages,
see the separate article on the
overall Voyager Program.
 Images of the spacecraft

Voyager 1 in
a space
simulator
chamber 

Gold-Plated
Record is
attached to
Voyager 1
Location of
the scientific
instruments
indicated in
a diagram 
Media related to the Voyager
spacecraft at Wikimedia Commons

Mission pro�le
Timeline of travel
Voyager 1 's trajectory from the earth, diverging from the ecliptic in
1981 at Saturn and now heading into the constellation Ophiuchus
 Date Event

1977-09-05 Spacecraft launched at 12:56:00 UTC.

1977-12-10 Entered asteroid belt.

1977-12-19 Voyager 1 overtakes Voyager 2. (see diagram)

1978-09-08 Exited asteroid belt.

Start Jupiter observation phase.

Time Event

1979-03-05 Encounter with the Jovian system.

06:54 Amalthea flyby at 420,200 km.

Jupiter closest approach at 348,890 km

12:05:26
from the center of mass.
1979-01-06
15:14 Io flyby at 20,570 km.

18:19 Europa flyby at 733,760 km.

1979-03-06

02:15 Ganymede flyby at 114,710 km.

17:08 Callisto flyby at 126,400 km.

1979-04-13 Phase end

Start Saturn observation phase.

1980-08-22
 Time Event

1980-11-12 Encounter with the Saturnian system.

05:41:21 Titan flyby at 6,490 km.

22:16:32 Tethys flyby at 415,670 km.

Saturn closest approach at 184,300 km

23:46:30
from the center of mass.

1980-11-13

01:43:12 Mimas flyby at 88,440 km.

01:51:16 Enceladus flyby at 202,040 km.

06:21:53 Rhea flyby at 73,980 km.

16:44:41 Hyperion flyby at 880,440 km.

1980-12-14 Phase end

1980-12-14 Begin extended mission.

 Extended mission

Final images of the Voyager program acquired by

1990-02-14
Voyager 1 to create the Solar System Family Portrait.

Voyager 1 overtakes Pioneer 10 as the most distant

spacecraft from the Sun, at 69.419 AU. Voyager 1 is
1998-02-17
moving away from the Sun at over 1 AU per year faster
than Pioneer 10.

Passed the termination shock at 94 AU and entered

2004-12-17
the heliosheath.

2007-02-02 Terminated plasma subsystem operations.

2007-04-11 Terminated plasma subsystem heater.

Terminated planetary radio astronomy experiment

2008-01-16
operations.

Crossed the heliopause at 121 AU and entered

2012-08-25
interstellar space.

2014-07-07 Further confirmation probe is in interstellar space.

2016-04-19 Terminated Ultraviolet Spectrometer operations.

"Trajectory correction maneuver" (TCM) thrusters are

2017-11-28
tested in their first use since November 1980.[27]

Launch and
trajectory
Voyager 1 lifted off with a Titan IIIE

The Voyager 1 probe was

launched on September 5,
1977, from Launch Complex
41 at the Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, aboard a Titan
IIIE launch vehicle. The
Voyager 2 probe had been
launched two weeks earlier, on
August 20, 1977. Despite
being launched later, Voyager
1 reached both Jupiter[28] and
Saturn sooner, following a
shorter trajectory.[29]

The trajectory of Voyager 1 through the

Jupiter system

Flyby of Jupiter

Voyager 1 began
photographing Jupiter in
January 1979. Its closest
approach to Jupiter was on
March 5, 1979, at a distance of
about 349,000 kilometers
(217,000 miles) from the
planet's center.[28] Because of
the greater photographic
resolution allowed by a closer
approach, most observations
of the moons, rings, magnetic
fields, and the radiation belt
environment of the Jovian
system were made during the
48-hour period that bracketed
the closest approach. Voyager
1 finished photographing the
Jovian system in April 1979.

Discovery of active volcanic

activity on the moon Io was
probably the greatest surprise.
It was the first time active
volcanoes had been seen on
another body in the Solar
System. It appears that activity
on Io affects the entire Jovian
system. Io appears to be the
primary source of matter that
pervades the Jovian
magnetosphere – the region of
space that surrounds the
planet influenced by the
planet's strong magnetic field.
Sulfur, oxygen, and sodium,
apparently erupted by Io's
volcanoes and sputtered off
the surface by impact of high-
energy particles, were detected
at the outer edge of the
magnetosphere of Jupiter.[28]

The two Voyager space probes

made a number of important
discoveries about Jupiter, its
satellites, its radiation belts,
and its never-before-seen
planetary rings.
 Play media

Voyager 1 time-lapse movie of

Jupiter approach (Link to full-
size video)
Jupiter's Great Red Spot, an
anti-cyclonic storm larger
than Earth, as seen from
Voyager 1
View of sulfur-rich lava flows
radiating from the volcano Ra
Patera on Io
The eruption plume of the
volcano Loki rises 160 km
(100 mi) over the limb of Io
 Europa's lineated but un-
cratered face, evidence of
currently active geology, at a
distance of 2.8 million km.
 Ganymede's tectonically
disrupted surface, marked
with bright impact sites, from
253,000 km.

Media related to the Voyager

1 Jupiter encounter at
Wikimedia Commons

Flyby of Saturn

The gravitational assist

trajectories at Jupiter were
successfully carried out by
both Voyagers, and the two
spacecraft went on to visit
Saturn and its system of
moons and rings. Voyager 1
encountered Saturn in
November 1980, with the
closest approach on November
12, 1980, when the space
probe came within 124,000
kilometers (77,000 mi) of
Saturn's cloud-tops. The space
probe's cameras detected
complex structures in the rings
of Saturn, and its remote
sensing instruments studied
the atmospheres of Saturn and
its giant moon Titan.[30]

Voyager 1 found that about

seven percent of the volume of
Saturn's upper atmosphere is
helium (compared with 11
percent of Jupiter's
atmosphere), while almost all
the rest is hydrogen. Since
Saturn's internal helium
abundance was expected to be
the same as Jupiter's and the
Sun's, the lower abundance of
helium in the upper
atmosphere may imply that the
heavier helium may be slowly
sinking through Saturn's
hydrogen; that might explain
the excess heat that Saturn
radiates over energy it receives
from the Sun. Winds blow at
high speeds in Saturn. Near
the equator, the Voyagers
measured winds about
500 m/s (1,100 mph). The
wind blows mostly in an
easterly direction.[29]

The Voyagers found aurora-like

ultraviolet emissions of
hydrogen at mid-latitudes in
the atmosphere, and auroras
at polar latitudes (above 65
degrees). The high-level
auroral activity may lead to the
formation of complex
hydrocarbon molecules that
are carried toward the equator.
The mid-latitude auroras,
which occur only in sunlit
regions, remain a puzzle, since
bombardment by electrons and
ions, known to cause auroras
on Earth, occurs primarily at
high latitudes. Both Voyagers
measured the rotation of
Saturn (the length of a day) at
10 hours, 39 minutes, 24
seconds.[30]

Voyager 1's mission included a

flyby of Titan, Saturn's largest
moon, which had long been
known to have an atmosphere.
Images taken by Pioneer 11 in
1979 had indicated the
atmosphere was substantial
and complex, further
increasing interest. The Titan
flyby occurred as the
spacecraft entered the system
to avoid any possibility of
damage closer to Saturn
compromising observations,
and approached to within
6,400 km (4,000 mi), passing
behind Titan as seen from
Earth and the Sun. Voyager's
measurement of the
atmosphere's effect on
sunlight, and Earth-based
measurement of its effect on
the probe's radio signal were
used to determine the
atmosphere's composition,
density, and pressure. Titan's
mass was also measured by
observing its effect on the
probe's trajectory. Thick haze
prevented any visual
observation of the surface, but
the measurement of the
atmosphere's composition,
temperature, and pressure led
to speculation that lakes of
liquid hydrocarbons could exist
on the surface.[31]

Because observations of Titan

were considered vital, the
trajectory chosen for Voyager
1 was designed around the
optimum Titan flyby, which
took it below the south pole of
Saturn and out of the plane of
the ecliptic, ending its
planetary science mission.[32]
Had Voyager 1 failed or been
unable to observe Titan,
Voyager 2's trajectory would
have been altered to
incorporate the Titan flyby,
[31]:94 precluding any visit to
Uranus and Neptune.[4] The
trajectory Voyager 1 was
launched into would not have
allowed it to continue on to
Uranus and Neptune,[32]:155
but could have been altered to
avoid a Titan flyby and travel
from Saturn to Pluto, arriving
in 1986.[6]

Crescent Saturn from

5.3 million km, four days after
closest approach
Voyager 1 image of Saturn's
narrow, twisted and braided F
Ring.
 Mimas at a range of
425,000 km; the crater
Herschel is at upper right
Tethys, with its giant rift valley
Ithaca Chasma, from
1.2 million km.
Fractured 'wispy terrain' on
Dione's trailing hemisphere.
 The icy surface of Rhea is
nearly saturated with impact
craters.
Titan's thick haze layer is
shown in this enhanced
Voyager 1 image.
 Layers of haze, composed of
complex organic compounds,
covering Saturn's satellite
Titan.

Media related to the Voyager

1 Saturn encounter at
Wikimedia Commons

Exit from the

heliosphere
The Family Portrait of the Solar System
acquired by Voyager 1

Position of Voyager 1 above the plane

of the ecliptic on February 14, 1990

On February 14, 1990,

Voyager 1 took the first ever
"family portrait" of the Solar
System as seen from
outside,[33] which includes the
image of planet Earth known
as Pale Blue Dot. Soon
afterward its cameras were
deactivated to conserve power
and computer resources for
other equipment. The camera
software has been removed
from the spacecraft, so it
would now be complex to get
them working again. Earth-side
software and computers for
reading the images are also no
longer available.[4]
The Pale Blue Dot image showing Earth
from 6 billion kilometers appearing as a
tiny dot (the blueish-white speck
approximately halfway down the brown
band to the right) within the darkness
of deep space

On February 17, 1998, Voyager

1 reached a distance of 69 AU
from the Sun and overtook
Pioneer 10 as the most distant
spacecraft from Earth.[34][35]
Travelling at about 17
kilometers per second
(11 mi/s)[36] it has the fastest
heliocentric recession speed of
any spacecraft.[37]

As Voyager 1 headed for

interstellar space, its
instruments continued to study
the Solar System. Jet
Propulsion Laboratory
scientists used the plasma
wave experiments aboard
Voyager 1 and 2 to look for the
heliopause, the boundary at
which the solar wind
transitions into the interstellar
medium.[38] As of 2013, the
probe was moving with a
relative velocity to the Sun of
about 17030 m/s.[39] With the
velocity the probe is currently
maintaining, Voyager 1 is
traveling about 325 million
miles per year (520 million
kilometers per year),[40] or
approximately half a light-year
per ten millennia.

Termination shock
Close flybys of gas giants gave gravity
assists to both Voyagers

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins

University Applied Physics
Laboratory think that Voyager
1 entered the termination
shock in February 2003.[41]
This marks the point where the
solar wind slows down to
subsonic speeds. Some other
scientists expressed doubt,
discussed in the journal Nature
of November 6, 2003.[42] The
issue would not be resolved
until other data became
available, since Voyager 1's
solar-wind detector ceased
functioning in 1990. This
failure meant that termination
shock detection would have to
be inferred from the data from
the other instruments on
board.[43][44][45]

In May 2005, a NASA press

release said that the
consensus was that Voyager 1
was then in the heliosheath.[46]
In a scientific session at the
American Geophysical Union
meeting in New Orleans on the
morning of May 25, 2005, Dr.
Ed Stone presented evidence
that the craft crossed the
termination shock in late
2004.[47] This event is
estimated to have occurred on
December 15, 2004 at a
distance of 94 AU from the
Sun.[47][48]

Heliosheath
On March 31, 2006, amateur
radio operators from AMSAT in
Germany tracked and received
radio waves from Voyager 1
using the 20-meter (66 ft) dish
at Bochum with a long
integration technique.
Retrieved data was checked
and verified against data from
the Deep Space Network
station at Madrid, Spain.[49]
This seems to be the first such
amateur tracking of Voyager
1.[49]

It was confirmed on December

13, 2010 that Voyager 1 had
passed the reach of the radial
outward flow of the solar wind,
as measured by the Low
Energy Charged Particle
device. It is suspected that
solar wind at this distance
turns sideways because of
interstellar wind pushing
against the heliosphere. Since
June 2010, detection of solar
wind had been consistently at
zero, providing conclusive
evidence of the event.[50][51]
On this date, the spacecraft
was approximately 116 AU or
10.8 billion miles (17.3 billion
kilometers) from the Sun.[52]

Voyager 1 was commanded to

change its orientation to
measure the sideways motion
of the solar wind at that
location in space on March
2011. A test roll done in
February had confirmed the
spacecraft's ability to
maneuver and reorient itself.
The course of the spacecraft
was not changed. It rotated 70
degrees counterclockwise with
respect to Earth to detect the
solar wind. This was the first
time the spacecraft had done
any major maneuvering since
the Family Portrait photograph
of the planets was taken in
1990. After the first roll the
spacecraft had no problem in
reorienting itself with Alpha
Centauri, Voyager 1's guide
star, and it resumed sending
transmissions back to Earth.
Voyager 1 was expected to
enter interstellar space "at any
time". Voyager 2 was still
detecting outward flow of solar
wind at that point but it was
estimated that in the following
months or years it would
experience the same
conditions as Voyager 1.[53][54]

The spacecraft was reported at

12.44° declination and 17.163
hours right ascension, and at
an ecliptic latitude of 34.9°
(the ecliptic latitude changes
very slowly), placing it in the
constellation Ophiuchus as
observed from the Earth on
May 21, 2011.[4]

On December 1, 2011, it was

announced that Voyager 1 had
detected the first Lyman-alpha
radiation originating from the
Milky Way galaxy. Lyman-alpha
radiation had previously been
detected from other galaxies,
but because of interference
from the Sun, the radiation
from the Milky Way was not
detectable.[55]

NASA announced on December

5, 2011, that Voyager 1 had
entered a new region referred
to as a "cosmic purgatory".
Within this stagnation region,
charged particles streaming
from the Sun slow and turn
inward, and the Solar System's
magnetic field is doubled in
strength as interstellar space
appears to be applying
pressure. Energetic particles
originating in the Solar System
decline by nearly half, while
the detection of high-energy
electrons from outside
increases 100-fold. The inner
edge of the stagnation region
is located approximately 113
AU from the Sun.[56]
Heliopause

Plot showing a Plot showing a

dramatic dramatic
increase in the decrease in the
rate of cosmic rate of solar
ray particle wind particle
detection by the detection by
Voyager 1 Voyager 1
spacecraft (October 2011
(October 2011 through October
through October 2012)
2012)
NASA announced in June 2012
that the probe was detecting
changes in the environment
that were suspected to
correlate with arrival at the
heliopause.[57] Voyager 1 had
reported a marked increase in
its detection of charged
particles from interstellar
space, which are normally
deflected by the solar winds
within the heliosphere from the
Sun. The craft thus began to
enter the interstellar medium
at the edge of the Solar
System.[58]
Voyager 1 became the first
spacecraft to cross the
heliopause in August 2012,
then at a distance of 121 AU
from the Sun, although this
was not confirmed for another
year.[59][60][61][62][63]

As of September 2012,
sunlight took 16.89 hours to
get to Voyager 1 which was at
a distance of 121 AU. The
apparent magnitude of the Sun
from the spacecraft was −16.3
(less than 30 times the
brightness of the full
moon).[64] The spacecraft was
traveling at 17.043 km/s
(10.590 mi/s) relative to the
Sun. It would need about
17,565 years at this speed to
travel a light-year.[64] To
compare, Proxima Centauri,
the closest star to the Sun, is
about 4.2 light-years
(2.65 × 105 AU) distant. Were
the spacecraft traveling in the
direction of that star, 73,775
years would pass before
Voyager 1 reaches it. (Voyager
1 is heading in the direction of
the constellation
Ophiuchus.[64])

In late 2012, researchers

reported that particle data
from the spacecraft suggested
that the probe had passed
through the heliopause.
Measurements from the
spacecraft revealed a steady
rise since May in collisions with
high energy particles (above
70 MeV), which are thought to
be cosmic rays emanating from
supernova explosions far
beyond the Solar System, with
a sharp increase in these
collisions in late August. At the
same time, in late August,
there was a dramatic drop in
collisions with low-energy
particles, which are thought to
originate from the Sun.[65] Ed
Roelof, space scientist at Johns
Hopkins University and
principal investigator for the
Low-Energy Charged Particle
instrument on the spacecraft
declared that "Most scientists
involved with Voyager 1 would
agree that [these two criteria]
have been sufficiently
satisfied."[65] However, the last
criterion for officially declaring
that Voyager 1 had crossed the
boundary, the expected change
in magnetic field direction
(from that of the Sun to that of
the interstellar field beyond),
had not been observed (the
field had changed direction by
only 2 degrees[60]), which
suggested to some that the
nature of the edge of the
heliosphere had been
misjudged. On December 3,
2012, Voyager project scientist
Ed Stone of the California
Institute of Technology said,
"Voyager has discovered a new
region of the heliosphere that
we had not realized was there.
We're still inside, apparently.
But the magnetic field now is
connected to the outside. So
it's like a highway letting
particles in and out."[66] The
magnetic field in this region
was 10 times more intense
than Voyager 1 encountered
before the termination shock.
It was expected to be the last
barrier before the spacecraft
exited the Solar System
completely and entered
interstellar space.[67][68][69]

In March 2013, it was

announced that Voyager 1
might have become the first
spacecraft to enter interstellar
space, having detected a
marked change in the plasma
environment on August 25,
2012. However, until
September 12, 2013, it was
still an open question as to
whether the new region was
interstellar space or an
unknown region of the Solar
System. At that time, the
former alternative was officially
confirmed.[70] [71]

In 2013 Voyager 1 was exiting

the solar system at a speed of
about 3.6 AU per year, while
Voyager 2 is going slower,
leaving the solar system at 3.3
AU per year.[72] Each year
Voyager 1 increases its lead
over Voyager 2.

Voyager 1 reached a distance

of 135 AU from the Sun on May
18, 2016.[3] By September 5,
2017 that had increased to
about 139.64 AU from the Sun,
or just over 19 light-hours, and
at that time Voyager 2 was
115.32 AU from the Sun.[3]

Its progress can be monitored

at NASA's website (see:
External links).[3]

Voyager 1 and the other probes that

are in or on their way to interstellar
space
Interstellar medium
On September 12, 2013, NASA
officially confirmed that
Voyager 1 had reached the
interstellar medium in August
2012 as previously observed,
with a generally accepted date
of August 25, 2012, the date
durable changes in the density
of energetic particles were first
detected.[61][62][63] By this
point most space scientists
had abandoned the hypothesis
that a change in magnetic field
direction must accompany
crossing of the heliopause;[62]
a new model of the heliopause
predicted that no such change
would be found.[73] A key
finding that persuaded many
scientists that the heliopause
had been crossed was an
indirect measurement of an
80-fold increase in electron
density, based on the
frequency of plasma
oscillations observed
beginning on April 9, 2013,[62]
triggered by a solar outburst
that had occurred in March
2012[59] (electron density is
expected to be two orders of
magnitude higher outside the
heliopause than within).[61]
Weaker sets of oscillations
measured in October and
November 2012[71][74]
provided additional data. An
indirect measurement was
required because Voyager 1's
plasma spectrometer had
stopped working in 1980.[63]
In September 2013, NASA
released audio renditions of
these plasma waves. The
recordings represent the first
sounds to be captured in
interstellar space.[75]

While Voyager 1 is commonly

spoken of as having left the
Solar System simultaneously
with having left the
heliosphere, the two are not
the same. The Solar System is
usually defined as the vastly
larger region of space
populated by bodies that orbit
the Sun. The craft is presently
less than one seventh the
distance to the aphelion of
Sedna, and it has not yet
entered the Oort cloud, the
source region of long-period
comets, regarded by
astronomers as the outermost
zone of the Solar System.
[60][71]

Future of the probe

Image of Voyager 1's radio signal on

February 21, 2013[76]

Voyager 1 is expected to reach

the theorized Oort cloud in
about 300 years[77][78] and
take about 30,000 years to
pass through it.[60][71] Though
it is not heading towards any
particular star, in about
40,000 years, it will pass
within 1.6 light-years of the
star Gliese 445, which is at
present in the constellation
Camelopardalis.[79] That star is
generally moving towards the
Solar System at about
119 km/s (430,000 km/h;
270,000 mph).[79] NASA says
that "The Voyagers are
destined—perhaps eternally—
to wander the Milky Way."[80]

Provided Voyager 1 does not

collide with anything and is not
retrieved, the New Horizons
space probe will never pass it,
despite being launched from
Earth at a faster speed than
either Voyager spacecraft. New
Horizons is traveling at about
15 km/s, 2 km/s slower than
Voyager 1, and is still slowing
down. When New Horizons
reaches the same distance
from the Sun as Voyager 1 is
now, its speed will be about
13 km/s (8 mi/s).[81]

In December 2017 it was

announced that NASA had
successfully fired up all four of
Voyager 1 's trajectory
correction maneuver (TCM)
thrusters. The TCM thrusters
will be used in the place of a
degraded set of jets which
were used to help keep the
probe's antenna pointed
towards the Earth. Use of the
TCM thrusters will allow
Voyager 1 to continue to
transmit data to NASA for two
to three more years. [82] [83]

End of specific capabilities as a result of the available

Year
electrical power limitations[84]

2007 Termination of plasma subsystem (PLS)

Power off Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment

2008
(PRA)

Termination of scan platform and Ultraviolet

2016[85]
Spectrometer (UVS) observations

Termination of Data Tape Recorder (DTR) operations

(limited by ability to capture 1.4 kbit/s data using a
2018 approx
70 m/34 m antenna array; this is the minimum rate at
which the DTR can read out data)

Termination of gyroscopic operations (previously

2019-2020
2017, but backup thrusters active for continuation of
approx
gyroscopic operations.)

Start shutdown of science instruments (as of

October 18, 2010 the order is undecided, however the
2020 Low-Energy Charged Particles, Cosmic Ray Subsystem,
Magnetometer, and Plasma Wave Subsystem
instruments are expected to still be operating)[86]

2025–2030 Will no longer be able to power any single instrument.

Golden record
 0:00 0:00

A child's greeting in English recorded

on the Voyager Golden Record

Voyager Golden Record

Each Voyager space probe

carries a gold-plated audio-
visual disc in case the
spacecraft should ever be
found by intelligent life forms
from other planetary
systems.[87] The disc carries
photos of the Earth and its
lifeforms, a range of scientific
information, spoken greetings
from people such as the
Secretary-General of the
United Nations and the
President of the United States
and a medley, "Sounds of
Earth," that includes the
sounds of whales, a baby
crying, waves breaking on a
shore, and a collection of
music, including works by
Mozart, Blind Willie Johnson,
Chuck Berry, and Valya
Balkanska. Other Eastern and
Western classics are included,
as well as various
performances of indigenous
music from around the world.
The record also contains
greetings in 55 different
languages.[88]

See also
Interstellar probe
List of artificial objects
escaping from the Solar
System
 List of missions to the outer
planets
Local Interstellar Cloud
Rings of Jupiter
Space exploration
Space probe
Specific orbital energy of
Voyager 1
Timeline of artificial
satellites and space probes
Voyager 2

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has

media related to Voyager 1.

NASA Voyager website

Voyager 1 Mission Profile by
NASA's Solar System
Exploration
Position of Voyager 1 (Live-
Counter)
Voyager 1 (NSSDC Master
Catalog)
Heavens-above.com:
Spacecraft Escaping the
Solar System – current
positions and diagrams
We Are Here: The Pale Blue
Dot. A short film on the Pale
Blue Dot picture taken by
Voyager 1. Narrated by Carl
Sagan.
JPL Voyager Telecom
Manual
Voyager 1 Has Outdistanced
the Solar Wind
 Gray, Meghan. "Voyager and
Interstellar Space" . Deep
Space Videos. Brady Haran.
WebGL-based 3D artist's
view of Voyager @
SPACECRAFTS 3D

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