OMM Newsroom
“NASA’s” “Voyager 1” is expected to reach a historic milestone on Wednesday, Nov. 18, becoming the first human-made object to travel one light-day from Earth, nearly five decades after its launch, Anadolu Agency reported.
The spacecraft is due to reach a distance of 16.094 billion miles (25.902 billion kilometers) at 1016 GMT, according to “NASA”.
At that distance, radio signals will take 24 hours to travel from Earth to “Voyager 1” and another 24 hours to return, resulting in a minimum round-trip communication delay of 48 hours.
Launched on Sept. 5, 1977, “Voyager 1” was originally designed to explore Jupiter and Saturn before continuing toward interstellar space.
It became the most distant human-made object in February 1998, overtaking “NASA’s” “Pioneer 10”, and crossed into interstellar space in August 2012, becoming the first spacecraft to do so.
“Voyager 1” and its twin, “Voyager 2”, remain the only spacecraft to have operated beyond the heliosphere, the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields generated by the Sun.
After more than 49 years of operation, “Voyager 1” continues to collect scientific data as “NASA” engineers work to conserve its diminishing power supply.
To mark the milestone, “NASA” has invited people around the world to take part in its “Shine Bright for Voyager’s Light-Day” event on Tuesday, Nov. 17, by flashing lights toward the sky after sunset.
