Voyager 1 approaches one-light-day distance from Earth
Nearly 50 years after launch, NASA’s Voyager 1 is approaching a milestone that illustrates just how far the spacecraft has traveled. On November 18, it will be one light-day from Earth, so even a basic round-trip communication will take roughly 48 hours.
The milestone has been made possible in part by an energy-saving maneuver that has extended the spacecraft’s scientific mission. That work is increasingly important as Voyager 1’s available power continues to dwindle and engineers address unexplained technical problems, including a recent 48-hour communications blackout that briefly caused concern at NASA.
Reaching one light-day from Earth does not end the mission, but it highlights the growing difficulty of communicating with and operating a spacecraft across vast distances. Any command or confirmation sent to Voyager 1 must now accommodate the substantial delay, while the aging probe must continue conserving enough power for its instruments and systems.