Voyager 1 - Wikipedia

4/25/24, 11:54 PM Voyager 1 - Wikipedia
Voyager 1
Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of
Voyager 1
the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar space
beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days after its twin Voyager 2. It
communicates through the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) to receive routine
commands and to transmit data to Earth. Real-time distance and velocity data is
provided by NASA and JPL.[4] At a distance of 162.7 AU (24.3 billion km;
15.1 billion mi) from Earth as of April 2024,[4] it is the most distant human-made
object from Earth.[5]
The probe made flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
NASA had a choice of either doing a Pluto or Titan flyby; exploration of the moon
took priority because it was known to have a substantial atmosphere.[6][7][8] Artist's rendering of the Voyager
Voyager 1 studied the weather, magnetic fields, and rings of the two gas giants spacecraft design
and was the first probe to provide detailed images of their moons. Mission type Outer planetary,
heliosphere, and
As part of the Voyager program and like its sister craft Voyager 2, the spacecraft's
interstellar medium
extended mission is to locate and study the regions and boundaries of the outer
exploration
heliosphere and to begin exploring the interstellar medium. Voyager 1 crossed
the heliopause and entered interstellar space on August 25, 2012, making it the Operator NASA/Jet Propulsion
Laboratory
first spacecraft to do so.[9][10] Two years later, Voyager 1 began experiencing a
third wave of coronal mass ejections from the Sun that continued to at least COSPAR ID 1977-084A[1]
December 15, 2014, further confirming that the probe is in interstellar space.[11] SATCAT no. 10321[1]
Website voyager.jpl.nasa.gov (htt
In 2017, the Voyager team successfully fired the spacecraft's trajectory correction
ps://voyager.jpl.nasa.go
maneuver (TCM) thrusters for the first time since 1980, enabling the mission to
v/)
be extended by two to three years.[12] Voyager 1's extended mission is expected
to continue until at least 2025. Its radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) Mission 46 years, 7 months,
may supply enough electric power to operate its scientific instruments until duration 20 days elapsed
2036.[13] Planetary mission:
3 years, 3 months,
On December 12, 2023, NASA announced that Voyager 1 's flight data system was 9 days
unable to use its telemetry modulation unit, preventing it from transmitting Interstellar mission:
scientific data.[14] On April 18, 2024, NASA deployed a workaround, and data
43 years, 4 months,
transmissions resumed two days later.[15][16][17] 11 days elapsed
Mission background Spacecraft properties

Spacecraft Mariner Jupiter-Saturn
type
History Manufacturer Jet Propulsion
A 1960s proposal for a Grand Tour to study the outer planets led NASA to begin Laboratory
work on a mission during the early 1970s.[18] Information gathered by the Launch mass 815 kg (1,797 lb)[2]
Pioneer 10 spacecraft helped engineers design Voyager to better cope with the Dry mass 721.9 kg (1,592 lb)[3]
intense radiation around Jupiter.[19] Still, shortly before launch, strips of kitchen-
Power 470 watts (at launch)
grade aluminum foil were applied to certain cables to improve radiation
shielding.[20] Start of mission
Launch date September 5, 1977,
Initially, Voyager 1 was planned as Mariner 11 of the Mariner program. Due to
12:56:00 UTC
budget cuts, the mission was reduced to a flyby of Jupiter and Saturn and
renamed the Mariner Jupiter-Saturn probes. The name was changed to Voyager Rocket Titan IIIE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1 1/26
when the probe designs began to differ substantially from Mariner missions.[21] Launch site Cape Canaveral Launch
Complex 41
Spacecraft components End of mission
Voyager 1 was built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It has 16 hydrazine Last contact TBD
thrusters, three-axis stabilization gyroscopes, and referencing instruments to Flyby of Jupiter
keep the probe's radio antenna pointed toward Earth. Collectively, these
Closest March 5, 1979
instruments are part of the Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS),
approach
along with redundant units of most instruments and eight backup thrusters.[22]
The spacecraft also included 11 scientific instruments to study celestial objects Distance 349,000 km
(217,000 mi)
such as planets as it travels through space.[23]
Flyby of Saturn
Communication system Closest November 12, 1980

approach
The radio communication system of Voyager 1 was designed to be used up to and
beyond the limits of the Solar System. It has a 3.7-meter (12 ft) diameter high- Distance 124,000 km (77,000 mi)
gain Cassegrain antenna to send and receive radio waves via the three Deep Flyby of Titan (atmosphere study)
Space Network stations on the Earth.[24] The spacecraft normally transmits data Closest November 12, 1980
to Earth over Deep Space Network Channel 18, using a frequency of either approach
2.3 GHz or 8.4 GHz, while signals from Earth to Voyager are transmitted at Distance 6,490 km (4,030 mi)
2.1 GHz.[25]
Flagship
When Voyager 1 is unable to communicate with the Earth, its digital tape
recorder (DTR) can record about 67 megabytes of data for later transmission.[26]
As of 2023, signals from Voyager 1 take more than 22 hours to reach Earth.[4]
Power
Voyager 1 has three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) mounted on a boom. Each MHW-RTG contains 24
pressed plutonium-238 oxide spheres.[27] The RTGs generated about 470 W of electric power at the time of launch, with
the remainder being dissipated as waste heat.[28] 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 they will continue to support some of its operations until at
least 2025.[23][27]
Diagram of RTG fuel Diagram of RTG shell, Model of an RTG unit

container, showing the showing the power-producing
plutonium-238 oxide spheres silicon-germanium
thermocouples
Computers
Unlike Voyager's other instruments, the operation of the cameras for visible light is not autonomous, but is controlled by
an imaging parameter table contained in one of the digital computers, the Flight Data Subsystem (FDS). Since the 1990s,
most space probes have been equipped with completely autonomous cameras.[29]
The computer command subsystem (CCS) controls the

cameras. The CCS contains fixed computer programs,
such as command decoding, fault-detection and fault-
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.[30]
The Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem

The 3.7 m (12 ft) diameter (AACS) controls the spacecraft orientation (its
high gain dish antenna
attitude). It keeps the high-gain antenna pointing
used on the Voyager craft
Heliocentric positions of the five

interstellar probes (squares) and other
bodies (circles) until 2020, with launch
and flyby dates. Markers denote positions
on 1 January of each year, with every fifth
year labelled.
Plot 1 is viewed from the north ecliptic
pole, to scale.
Plots 2 to 4 are third-angle projections at
20% scale.
In the SVG file, (https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Interstellar_
probes_trajectory.svg) hover over a
trajectory or orbit to highlight it and its
associated launches and flybys.
towards the Earth, controls attitude changes, and points the scan platform. The custom-built AACS systems on both
Voyagers are the same.[31][32]
Scientific instruments
Instrument
Abbr. Description
name
Used a two-camera system (narrow-angle/wide-angle) to provide images of Jupiter, Saturn and other objects
along the trajectory. More (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1977-084A-01)
Filters [hide]
Narrow-angle camera[33] Wide-angle camera[34]

Name Wavelength Spectrum Sensitivity Name Wavelength Spectrum Sensitivity
0 – Clear 280–640 nm 2 – Clear 280–640 nm
4 – Clear 280–640 nm 3 – Violet 350–450 nm
Imaging Science 7 – UV 280–370 nm 1 – Blue 430–530 nm

System (ISS)
(disabled) 1 – Violet 350–450 nm 6 – CH4-U 536–546 nm
2 – Blue 430–530 nm 5 – Green 530–640 nm
5 – Green 530–640 nm 4 – Na-D 588–590 nm
6 – Green 530–640 nm 7 – Orange 590–640 nm
3 – Orange 590–640 nm 0 – CH4-

614–624 nm
JST
Principal investigator: Bradford Smith / University of Arizona (PDS/PRN website)

Data: PDS/PDI data catalog, PDS/PRN data catalog
Used the telecommunications system of the Voyager spacecraft to determine the physical properties of planets
and satellites (ionospheres, atmospheres, masses, gravity fields, densities) and the amount and size distribution of
Radio Science material in Saturn's rings and the ring dimensions. More (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.actio
System (RSS) n?id=1977-084A-02)
(disabled)
Principal investigator: G. Tyler / Stanford University PDS/PRN overview
Data: PDS/PPI data catalog, PDS/PRN data catalog (VG_2803), NSSDC data archive
Infrared Investigates both global and local energy balance and atmospheric composition. Vertical temperature profiles are
interferometer also obtained from the planets and satellites as well as the composition, thermal properties, and size of particles in
spectrometer (IRIS) Saturn's rings. More (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1977-084A-03)
and radiometer Principal investigator: Rudolf Hanel / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (PDS/PRN website)
(disabled) Data: PDS/PRN data catalog, PDS/PRN expanded data catalog (VGIRIS_0001, VGIRIS_002), NSSDC Jupiter data archive
Designed to measure atmospheric properties, and to measure radiation. More (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/ex

Ultraviolet periment/display.action?id=1977-084A-04)
Spectrometer (UVS)
(disabled) Principal investigator: A. Broadfoot / University of Southern California (PDS/PRN website)
Data: PDS/PRN data catalog
Designed to investigate the magnetic fields of Jupiter and Saturn, the interaction of the solar wind with the
magnetospheres of these planets, and the magnetic field of interplanetary space out to the boundary between the
Triaxial Fluxgate solar wind and the magnetic field of interstellar space. More (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.a
Magnetometer (MAG) ction?id=1977-084A-05)
(active)
Principal investigator: Norman F. Ness / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (website)
Data: PDS/PPI data catalog, NSSDC data archive
Investigates the microscopic properties of the plasma ions and measures electrons in the energy range from 5 eV
Plasma to 1 keV. More (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1977-084A-06)
Spectrometer (PLS)
(defective) Principal investigator: John Richardson / MIT (website)
Low Energy Measures the differential in energy fluxes and angular distributions of ions, electrons and the differential in energy
Charged Particle ion composition. More (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1977-084A-07)
(LECP)
Instrument Principal investigator: Stamatios Krimigis / JHU / APL / University of Maryland (JHU/APL website / UMD website / KU website)
(active) Data: UMD data plotting, PDS/PPI data catalog, NSSDC data archive
Determines the origin and acceleration process, life history, and dynamic contribution of interstellar cosmic rays,
the nucleosynthesis of elements in cosmic-ray sources, the behavior of cosmic rays in the interplanetary medium,
Cosmic Ray and the trapped planetary energetic-particle environment. More (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/displ
System (CRS) ay.action?id=1977-084A-08)
(active)
Principal investigator: Edward Stone / Caltech / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (website)
Planetary Radio Uses a sweep-frequency radio receiver to study the radio-emission signals from Jupiter and Saturn. More (https://
Astronomy nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1977-084A-10)
(PRA)
Investigation Principal investigator: James Warwick / University of Colorado
(disabled) Data: PDS/PPI data catalog, NSSDC data archive
Used a telescope with a polarizer to gather information on surface texture and composition of Jupiter and Saturn
Photopolarimeter and information on atmospheric scattering properties and density for both planets. More (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.g
System (PPS) ov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1977-084A-11)
(defective) Principal investigator: Arthur Lane / JPL (PDS/PRN website)
Data: PDS/PRN data catalog
Provides continuous, sheath-independent measurements of the electron-density profiles at Jupiter and Saturn as
Plasma Wave well as basic information on local wave–particle interaction, useful in studying the magnetospheres. More (https://n
Subsystem (PWS) ssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1977-084A-13)
(active) Principal investigator: William Kurth / University of Iowa (website)
Data: PDS/PPI data catalog
Images of the spacecraft
Voyager 1 in a space Gold-Plated Record is Edward C. Stone, former Location of the scientific
simulator chamber attached to Voyager 1 director of NASA JPL, instruments indicated in a
standing in front of a Voyager diagram
spacecraft model
Media related to the Voyager spacecraft at Wikimedia Commons
Mission profile
Timeline of travel
Voyager 1 's trajectory seen from Earth, diverging from the ecliptic in 1981 at Saturn and now heading towards 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.
1979-01-06 Start Jupiter observation phase.

1979-03-05 Encounter with the Jovian system.
06:54 Amalthea flyby at 420,200 km.
12:05:26 Jupiter closest approach at 348,890 km from the center of mass.

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

1980-08-22 Start Saturn observation phase.
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.
23:46:30 Saturn closest approach at 184,300 km 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.
1980-11-14 Phase end

1980-11-14 Begin extended mission.
Extended mission
Final images of the Voyager program acquired by Voyager 1 to create the Solar
1990-02-14
System Family Portrait.
Voyager 1 overtakes Pioneer 10 as the most distant spacecraft from the Sun, at
1998-02-17 69.419 AU. Voyager 1 is moving away from the Sun at over 1 AU per year faster
than Pioneer 10.
2004-12-17 Passed the termination shock at 94 AU and entered the heliosheath.
2007-02-02 Terminated plasma subsystem operations.
2007-04-11 Terminated plasma subsystem heater.

2008-01-16 Terminated planetary radio astronomy experiment operations.
Crossed the heliopause at 121 AU and entered interstellar space, becoming the
2012-08-25
first human-made object to exit the solar system.[35]
2014-07-07 Further confirmation probe is in interstellar space.
2016-04-19 Terminated Ultraviolet Spectrometer operations.

"Trajectory correction maneuver" (TCM) thrusters are tested in their first use
2017-11-28
since November 1980.[36]
Voyager 1 has reached a distance of 23.381 billion km (14.528 billion mi;
2022-07-14 156.29 AU) from Earth and 23.483 billion km (14.592 billion mi; 156.97 AU) from
the Sun.[37]
Issues with onboard computer render it unable to send usable data back to
2023-11-14
Earth, engineers begin planning and developing a fix.[38][39]
Engineers re-establish communication with the probe by moving code away from
2024-04-22
a broken memory chip in the FDS.[40]
Launch and trajectory

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[41] and Saturn sooner, following a shorter
trajectory.[42]
Voyager 1 's launch almost failed because Titan's LR-91 Animation of Voyager 1 's trajectory
second stage shut down prematurely, leaving 1,200 from September 1977 to December
Voyager 1 lifted off atop a pounds (540 kg) of propellant unburned. Recognizing the 31, 1981
Titan IIIE. deficiency, the Centaur stage's on-board computers Voyager 1 · Earth ·
ordered a burn that was far longer than planned in order Jupiter · Saturn · Sun
to compensate. Centaur extended its own burn and was
able to give Voyager 1 the additional velocity it needed. At cutoff, the Centaur was only
3.4 seconds from propellant exhaustion. If the same failure had occurred during Voyager 2's launch a few weeks earlier,
the Centaur would have run out of propellant before the probe reached the correct trajectory. Jupiter was in a more
favorable position vis-à-vis Earth during the launch of Voyager 1 than during the launch of Voyager 2.[43]
Voyager 1's initial orbit had an aphelion of 8.9 AU (830 million mi), just a little short of Saturn's orbit of 9.5 AU
(880 million mi). Voyager 2's initial orbit had an aphelion of 6.2 AU (580 million mi), well short of Saturn's orbit.[44]
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.[41] 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.[45]
The discovery of ongoing 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
Animation of Voyager 1 's trajectory
field. Sulfur, oxygen, and sodium, apparently erupted by Io's volcanoes and sputtered
around Jupiter
off the surface by the impact of high-energy particles, were detected at the outer edge
Voyager 1 · Jupiter · Io ·
of the magnetosphere of Jupiter.[41] Europa · Ganymede ·
Callisto
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.
The trajectory of Voyager 1 through

the Jupiter system
0:07
Voyager 1 time-lapse movie of Jupiter Jupiter's Great Red Spot, an anti-cyclonic

approach (full-size video) storm larger than Earth, as seen from
Voyager 1
View of sulfur-rich lava flows The eruption plume of the volcano Loki rises
radiating from the volcano Ra 160 km (100 mi) over the limb of Io
Patera on Io
Europa's lineated but un-cratered face, Ganymede's tectonically disrupted

evidence of currently active geology, at surface, marked with bright impact
a distance of 2.8 million km. 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.[46]
Voyager 1 found that about seven percent of the volume of Saturn's upper atmosphere Animation of Voyager 1 around
is helium (compared with 11 percent of Jupiter's atmosphere), while almost all the rest Saturn
is hydrogen. Since Saturn's internal helium abundance was expected to be the same as Voyager 1 · Saturn ·
Jupiter's and the Sun's, the lower abundance of helium in the upper atmosphere may Mimas · Enceladus ·
imply that the heavier helium may be slowly sinking through Saturn's hydrogen; that Tethys · Rhea · Titan
might explain the excess heat that Saturn radiates over energy it receives from the
Sun. Winds blow at high speeds on Saturn. Near the equator, the Voyagers measured
winds about 500 m/s (1,100 mph). The wind blows mostly in an easterly direction.[42]
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.[46]
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. The 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.[47]
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.[48] Had Voyager 1 failed or been unable to observe Titan, Voyager 2's trajectory would have been altered
to incorporate the Titan flyby,[47]: 94 precluding any visit to Uranus and Neptune.[6] The trajectory Voyager 1 was
launched into would not have allowed it to continue on to Uranus and Neptune,[48]: 155 but could have been altered to
avoid a Titan flyby and travel from Saturn to Pluto, arriving in 1986.[8]
Crescent Saturn from 5.3 million km, four Voyager 1 image of Mimas at a range of
days after closest approach Saturn's narrow, twisted 425,000 km; the crater
and braided F Ring. Herschel is at upper right
Tethys, with its giant rift valley

Ithaca Chasma, from Fractured 'wispy terrain' on Dione's trailing The icy surface of Rhea is
1.2 million km. hemisphere. nearly saturated with impact
craters.
Titan's thick haze layer is Layers of haze, composed of

shown in this enhanced complex organic compounds,
Voyager 1 image. covering Saturn's satellite
Titan.
Media related to the Voyager 1 Saturn encounter at Wikimedia Commons
Exit from the heliosphere
On February 14, 1990, Voyager 1 took the first "family

portrait" of the Solar System as seen from outside,[50] which
includes the image of planet Earth known as Pale Blue Dot.
Soon afterward, its cameras were deactivated to conserve
energy 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 The Family Portrait of the Solar System acquired by Voyager 1
software and computers for reading the images are also no (February 14, 1990)
longer available.[6]
On February 17, 1998, Voyager 1 reached a distance of 69 AU (6.4 billion mi;

10.3 billion km) from the Sun and overtook Pioneer 10 as the most distant spacecraft
from Earth.[51][52] Travelling at about 17 km/s (11 mi/s), it has the fastest heliocentric
recession speed of any spacecraft.[53]
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.[54] As of 2013, the probe was moving Position of Voyager 1 above the
with a relative velocity to the Sun of about 61,197 kilometers per hour plane of the ecliptic on February 14,
1990, the day Family Portrait was
(38,026 mph).[55] With the velocity the probe is currently maintaining, Voyager 1 is
taken.
traveling about 523 million km (325 million mi) per year,[56] or about one light-year
per 18,000 years.
Termination shock
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory believe that
Voyager 1 entered the termination shock in February 2003.[57] This marks the point
where the solar wind slows to subsonic speeds. Some other scientists expressed doubt
and discussed this in the journal Nature of November 6, 2003.[58] 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.[59][60][61] Voyager 1 and 2 speed and
distance from Sun
In May 2005, a NASA press release said that the consensus was that Voyager 1 was
then in the heliosheath.[62] In a scientific session at the American Geophysical Union
meeting in New Orleans on May 25, 2005, Ed Stone presented evidence that the craft
crossed the termination shock in late 2004.[63] This event is estimated to have occurred
on December 15, 2004, at a distance of 94 AU (8,700 million mi) from the Sun.[63][64]
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. This seems to be the first such amateur The Pale Blue Dot image
tracking of Voyager 1.[65] showing Earth from 6 billion
kilometers (3.7 billion miles)
It was confirmed on December 13, 2010, that Voyager 1 had passed the reach of the appearing as a tiny dot (the
radial outward flow of the solar wind, as measured by the Low Energy Charged Particle bluish-white speck approximately
device. It is suspected that solar wind at this distance turns sideways because of halfway down the light band to
interstellar wind pushing against the heliosphere. Since June 2010, detection of solar the right) within the darkness of
deep space.[49]
wind had been consistently at zero, providing conclusive evidence of the event.[66][67] On
this date, the spacecraft was approximately 116 AU (17.4 billion km; 10.8 billion mi) from
the Sun.[68]
Voyager 1 was commanded to change its orientation to measure the sideways motion of
the solar wind at that location in space in March 2011 (~33yr 6mo from launch). 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 Close flybys of gas giants gave
time". Voyager 2 was still detecting outward flow of solar wind at that point but it was gravity assists to both Voyagers
estimated that in the following months or years it would experience the same conditions
as Voyager 1.[69][70]
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.[6]
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.[71]
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.[72]
Heliopause
NASA announced in June 2012 that the probe was detecting changes in the environment that were suspected to correlate
with arrival at the heliopause.[73] 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.[74]
Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to cross the heliopause in August 2012, then at a distance of 121 AU (1.12 × 1010 mi;
1.81 × 1010 km) from the Sun, although this was not confirmed for another year.[75][76][77][78][79]
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 (about 30 times brighter than the full Moon).[80] The spacecraft was
traveling at 17.043 km/s (10.590 mi/s) relative to the Sun. At this rate, it would need about 17,565 years at this speed to
travel a single light-year.[80] To compare, Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, is about 4.2 light-years
(2.65 × 105 AU) distant. If the spacecraft was traveling in the direction of that star, it would take 73,775 years to reach it.
(Voyager 1 is heading in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus.[80])
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.[81]
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".[81] 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[76]), 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."[82] 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.[83][84][85]
Interstellar medium
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.[86][87]
In 2013 Voyager 1 was exiting the Solar System at a speed of about 3.6 AU (330 million mi; 540 million km) per year,
while Voyager 2 is going slower, leaving the Solar System at 3.3 AU (310 million mi; 490 million km) per year.[88] Each
year, Voyager 1 increases its lead over Voyager 2.
Voyager 1 reached a distance of 135 AU (12.5 billion mi; 20.2 billion km) from the Sun on May 18, 2016.[4] On September
5, 2017, that had increased to about 139.64 AU (12.980 billion mi; 20.890 billion km) from the Sun, or just over 19 light-
hours; at that time, Voyager 2 was 115.32 AU (10.720 billion mi; 17.252 billion km) from the Sun.[4]
Its progress can be monitored at NASA's website (see § External links).[4]
Plot showing a dramatic increase Plot showing a dramatic decrease

in the rate of cosmic ray particle in the rate of solar wind particle
detection by the Voyager 1 detection by Voyager 1 (October
spacecraft (October 2011 through 2011 through October 2012)
October 2012)
On September 12, 2013, NASA officially confirmed that Voyager 1

had reached the interstellar medium in August 2012 as previously
observed. The generally accepted date of arrival is August 25, 2012
(approximately 10 days before the 35th anniversary of its launch),
the date durable changes in the density of energetic particles were
first detected.[77][78][79] By this point, most space scientists had
abandoned the hypothesis that a change in magnetic field direction
must accompany a crossing of the heliopause;[78] a new model of
the heliopause predicted that no such change would be found.[89]
A key finding that persuaded many scientists that the heliopause

had been crossed was an indirect measurement of an 80-fold
Voyager 1 and the other probes that are in or on their way
increase in electron density, based on the frequency of plasma to interstellar space, except New Horizons.
oscillations observed beginning on April 9, 2013,[78] triggered by a
solar outburst that had occurred in March 2012[75] (electron density
is expected to be two orders of magnitude higher outside the heliopause than within).[77] Weaker sets of oscillations
measured in October and November 2012[87][90]

provided additional data. An indirect
measurement was required because Voyager 1's plasma spectrometer had stopped
working in 1980.[79] In September 2013, NASA released recordings of audio
transductions of these plasma waves, the first to be measured in interstellar space.[91]
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
Voyager 1 transmitted audio signals
System is usually defined as the vastly larger region of space populated by bodies that
generated by plasma waves from
orbit the Sun. The craft is presently less than one-seventh the distance to the aphelion interstellar space
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.[76][87]
In October 2020, astronomers reported a significant unexpected increase in density in the space beyond the Solar System
as detected by the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes. According to the researchers, this implies that "the density
gradient is a large-scale feature of the VLISM (very local interstellar medium) in the general direction of the heliospheric
nose".[92][93]
In May 2021, NASA reported on the continuous measurement, for the first time, of the density of material in interstellar
space and, as well, the detection of interstellar sounds for the first time.[94]
In May 2022, NASA reported that Voyager 1 had begun transmitting "mysterious" and "peculiar" telemetric data to the
Deep Space Network (DSN). It confirmed that the operational status of the craft remained unchanged, but that the issue
stemmed from the Attitude Articulation and Control System (AACS). NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) published a
statement on May 18, 2022, that the AACS was functional but sending invalid data.[95][96] The problem was eventually
traced to the AACS sending its telemetry through a computer that had been non-operational for years, resulting in data
corruption. In August 2022, NASA transmitted a command to the AACS to utilize another computer, which resolved the
problem. An investigation into what caused the initial switch is underway, though engineers have hypothesized that the
AACS had executed a bad command from another onboard computer.[97][98]
Future of the probe

Interstellar velocity ( )
Remaining lifespan Probe Velocity ( )
In December 2017, NASA successfully fired all four of Voyager 1 's trajectory Pioneer 10 11.8 km/s (2.49 au/yr)
correction maneuver (TCM) thrusters for the first time since 1980. The TCM
Pioneer 11 11.1 km/s (2.34 au/yr)
thrusters were used in the place of a degraded set of jets to help keep the probe's
antenna pointed towards the Earth. Use of the TCM thrusters allowed Voyager 1 Voyager 1 16.9 km/s (3.57 au/yr)[99]
to continue to transmit data to NASA for two to three more years.[101][36] Voyager 2 15.2 km/s (3.21 au/yr)
Due to the diminishing electrical power available, the Voyager team has had to New Horizons 12.6 km/s (2.66 au/yr)
prioritize which instruments to keep on and which to turn off. Heaters and other
spacecraft systems have been turned off one by one as part of power management. The fields
and particles instruments that are the most likely to send back key data about the heliosphere
and interstellar space have been prioritized to keep operating. Engineers expect the
spacecraft to continue operating at least one science instrument until around 2025.[102]
Image of Voyager 1 's radio

signal on February 21,
2013[100]
Year End of specific capabilities as a result of the available electrical power limitations
1998 Termination of Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS)[103]
2007 Termination of plasma subsystem (PLS)[104]
2008 Power off Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment (PRA)[104]
2016 Termination of scan platform and Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) observations[105]

Start shutdown of science instruments (as of October 18, 2010 the order is undecided, however the Low-Energy Charged
Unknown Particles, Cosmic Ray Subsystem, Magnetometer, and Plasma Wave Subsystem instruments are expected to still be
date
operating)[104]
Unknown Termination of Data Tape Recorder (DTR) operations (limited by ability to capture 1.4 kbit/s data using a 70 m/34 m antenna
date array; this is the minimum rate at which the DTR can read out data).[104]
Unknown Termination of gyroscopic operations (previously 2017, but backup thrusters active for continuation of gyroscopic
date operations).[104]
Will no longer be able to power even a single instrument. After 2036, both probes will be out of range of the Deep Space
2025–2036
Network.[13]
Voyager 1 began transmitting unreadable data on November 14, 2023. The problem was sourced to the Flight Data
Subsystem (FDS), one of the three onboard computer systems on board. The FDS was not communicating properly with
the telemetry modulation unit (TMU), which began transmitting a repeating sequence of ones and zeros indicating that
the system was in a stuck condition. After a reboot of the FDS communications remained unusable.[106] The probe still
received commands from Earth, and was sending a carrier tone indicating it was still operational. Commands sent to alter
the modulation of the tone succeeded, confirming that the probe was still responsive.[107]
Engineers reported in April 2024 that the failure was likely in a memory bank of the FDS, probably from being struck by a
high-energy particle or that it simply wore out due to age. The Voyager team began developing a workaround,[108][109]
and on April 20 communication of health and status was restored by rearranging code away from the defective FDS
memory chip, three percent of which was corrupted beyond repair.[110][17]
Concerns with the orientation thrusters

Some thrusters needed to control the attitude of the spacecraft and point its high-gain antenna in the direction of Earth
are out of use due to clogging problems in their hydrazine lines. The spacecraft no longer has a backup available for its
thruster system and "everything onboard is single-string," according to Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at JPL,
in an interview with Ars Technica.[111]

NASA has accordingly decided to modify the spacecraft's computer software in
order to reduce the rate at which the hydrazine lines clog. NASA will first deploy the modified software on Voyager 2,
which is less distant from Earth, before deploying it on Voyager 1.[111]
Far future
Simulated view of Voyager 1 relative to the Solar System on

August 2, 2018.
Simulated view of the Voyager probes relative to the Solar System and In about 50,000 years Voyager 1 will be
heliopause on August 2, 2018. as distant as several nearby stars
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 higher speed than either Voyager spacecraft. The Voyager spacecraft benefited
from multiple planetary flybys to increase its heliocentric velocities, whereas New Horizons received only a single such
boost, from its Jupiter flyby in 2007. As of 2018, New Horizons is traveling at about 14 km/s (8.7 mi/s), 3 km/s (1.9 mi/s)
slower than Voyager 1 and is still slowing down.[112]
Voyager 1 is expected to reach the theorized Oort cloud in about 300 years[113][114] and take about 30,000 years to pass
through it.[76][87] Though it is not heading towards any particular star, in about 40,000 years, it will pass within 1.6 light-
years (0.49 parsecs) of the star Gliese 445, which is at present in the constellation Camelopardalis and 17.1 light-years
from Earth.[115] That star is generally moving towards the Solar System at about 119 km/s (430,000 km/h;
270,000 mph).[115] NASA says that "The Voyagers are destined—perhaps eternally—to wander the Milky Way."[116] In
300,000 years, it will pass within less than 1 light-year of the M3V star TYC 3135–52–1.[117]
Golden record
Both Voyager space probes carry a gold-plated audio-visual disc, a compilation meant to showcase the diversity of life and
culture on Earth in the event that either spacecraft is ever found by any extraterrestrial finders.[118][119] The record, made
under the direction of a team including Carl Sagan and Timothy Ferris, includes 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 (Kurt
Waldheim) and the President of the United States (Jimmy Carter) 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 spanning different cultures and eras
including works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Blind Willie Johnson, Chuck Berry and Valya Balkanska. Other Eastern
and Western classics are included, as well as performances of

indigenous and folk music from around the world. The record 0:05
also contains greetings in 55 different languages.[120] The A child's greeting (the voice of Nick
project aimed to portray the richness of life on Earth and stand Sagan) in English recorded on the
as a testament to human creativity and the desire to connect Voyager Golden Record
with the cosmos.[119][35]

Voyager Golden
Record
See also
The Farthest, a 2017 documentary on the Voyager program
Interstellar probe
List of artificial objects leaving the Solar System
List of missions to the outer planets
Local Interstellar Cloud
Space exploration
Specific orbital energy of Voyager 1
Timeline of artificial satellites and space probes
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External links
NASA Voyager website (https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/)
Voyager 1 Mission Profile (https://web.archive.org/web/20150215231024/http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.
cfm?MCode=Voyager_1) by NASA's Solar System Exploration (https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/)
Where is Voyager? – Powered by NASA's Eyes Eyes on the Solar System – NASA/JPL (https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/s
olar-system/#/sc_voyager_1)
Position of Voyager 1 (Live-Counter) (https://live-counter.com/where-is-voyager-1/)
Voyager 1 (NSSDC Master Catalog) (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1977-084A)
Heavens-above.com: Spacecraft Escaping the Solar System (https://www.heavens-above.com/SolarEscape.aspx) –
current positions and diagrams
JPL Voyager Telecom Manual (https://descanso.jpl.nasa.gov/DPSummary/Descanso4--Voyager_new.pdf)
Voyager 1 Has Outdistanced the Solar Wind (https://www.universetoday.com/81662/voyager-1-has-outdistanced-the-s
olar-wind/)
Gray, Meghan. "Voyager and Interstellar Space" (http://www.deepskyvideos.com/videos/other/voyager.html). Deep
Space Videos. Brady Haran.
WebGL-based 3D artist's view of Voyager @ SPACECRAFTS 3D (http://spacecrafts3d.org/models/voyager.html)
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4/25/24, 11:54 PM Voyager 1 - Wikipedia

Mission background Spacecraft properties

Spacecraft components End of mission

Communication system Closest November 12, 1980

Diagram of RTG fuel Diagram of RTG shell, Model of an RTG unit

The computer command subsystem (CCS) controls the

The Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem

Heliocentric positions of the five

Narrow-angle camera[33] Wide-angle camera[34]

4 – Clear 280–640 nm 3 – Violet 350–450 nm

Imaging Science 7 – UV 280–370 nm 1 – Blue 430–530 nm

2 – Blue 430–530 nm 5 – Green 530–640 nm

5 – Green 530–640 nm 4 – Na-D 588–590 nm

6 – Green 530–640 nm 7 – Orange 590–640 nm

3 – Orange 590–640 nm 0 – CH4-

Principal investigator: Bradford Smith / University of Arizona (PDS/PRN website)

Designed to measure atmospheric properties, and to measure radiation. More (https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/ex

Images of the spacecraft

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

1977-12-10 Entered asteroid belt.

1978-09-08 Exited asteroid belt.

1979-01-06 Start Jupiter observation phase.

06:54 Amalthea flyby at 420,200 km.

12:05:26 Jupiter closest approach at 348,890 km from the center of mass.

18:19 Europa flyby at 733,760 km.

17:08 Callisto flyby at 126,400 km.

1979-04-13 Phase end

1980-11-12 Encounter with the Saturnian system.

22:16:32 Tethys flyby at 415,670 km.

23:46:30 Saturn closest approach at 184,300 km from the center of mass.

01:43:12 Mimas flyby at 88,440 km.

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

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

1980-11-14 Phase end

2007-02-02 Terminated plasma subsystem operations.

2007-04-11 Terminated plasma subsystem heater.

2016-04-19 Terminated Ultraviolet Spectrometer operations.

Launch and trajectory

The trajectory of Voyager 1 through

Voyager 1 time-lapse movie of Jupiter Jupiter's Great Red Spot, an anti-cyclonic

Europa's lineated but un-cratered face, Ganymede's tectonically disrupted

Media related to the Voyager 1 Jupiter encounter at Wikimedia Commons

Tethys, with its giant rift valley

Titan's thick haze layer is Layers of haze, composed of

Media related to the Voyager 1 Saturn encounter at Wikimedia Commons

Exit from the heliosphere

On February 14, 1990, Voyager 1 took the first "family

On February 17, 1998, Voyager 1 reached a distance of 69 AU (6.4 billion mi;

Its progress can be monitored at NASA's website (see § External links).[4]

Plot showing a dramatic increase Plot showing a dramatic decrease

On September 12, 2013, NASA officially confirmed that Voyager 1

A key finding that persuaded many scientists that the heliopause

measured in October and November 2012[87][90]

While Voyager 1 is commonly spoken of as having left the Solar System

Future of the probe

Image of Voyager 1 's radio

1998 Termination of Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS)[103]

2007 Termination of plasma subsystem (PLS)[104]

2008 Power off Planetary Radio Astronomy Experiment (PRA)[104]

2016 Termination of scan platform and Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) observations[105]