NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has been flying through space for over 35 years, making it the farthest human-made object from Earth. At this point, it’s almost 12 billion miles away from Earth and heading out of our solar system into interstellar space, but recent data from the craft has some scientists wondering if Voyager 1 might be returning home in the near future. Could it be on its way back to Earth? Let’s take a look at what we know so far about Voyager 1 and whether or not it will be coming back home anytime soon.
How far away is Voyager 1 right now?
The spacecraft is currently about 122 astronomical units (1.6 billion miles) from Earth, or about 12 billion miles from home. When it was launched in 1977, Voyager 1 was travelling at a speed of 36,000 mph; today, it’s going 17,000 mph due to slower wind speeds from heliosphere’s increasing density. To give you an idea of how fast that is, if you were traveling at that speed and suddenly turned around and headed back toward Earth, you would get there in about 50 years. However, Voyager 1 will take another 300 years to get back here—so don’t expect any interstellar comebacks for quite some time.
What would happen if it returned home?
Any theories and, more importantly, any realistic ideas about how it could return home will be considered. Does Voyager 1 still have its thrusters and instruments that were used to orient itself during its launch back in 1977? If so, then perhaps it could use these to align itself with Earth once again. These thrusters are said to be running out of fuel, but perhaps they’re still working just fine for one last mission. We won’t know if we don’t try! After all, even though there is a lot of controversy surrounding space exploration nowadays (it’s a waste of money and time, people say), space exploration has brought us many breakthroughs—including advances in medicine—and has also inspired many kids to get into science and engineering fields. Perhaps returning Voyager 1 would help rekindle interest in space exploration as well as serve as a symbol that our species can do anything when we put our minds to it.
How would we even know it returned home?
Even if Voyager 1 were to come within a distance of 10 million kilometers of Earth, it would still be more than a hundred times farther away than any other man-made object. At that distance, it’s entirely possible we wouldn’t notice that it had returned home. In fact, there’s some evidence to suggest it might already have passed us by! The last time scientists tried to communicate with Voyager 1 was in 2003. They sent a series of commands to activate its backup thrusters, which are used for attitude control and trajectory correction maneuvers. Unfortunately, when they received no response from Voyager 1, they assumed that it didn’t receive their message—but what if it did? What if Voyager 1 has been listening all along and is now on its way back home?
Other spacecraft that have made comebacks
Mission controllers have recovered lost spacecraft, even years after they were last heard from. NASA’s Galileo space probe was officially declared dead in 2000, but five years later it was reactivated and went on to complete an additional year of science operations before shutting down for good. Similarly, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) managed to revive their Cassini orbiter when it crashed into Saturn in September 2017. As far as we know, however, Voyager 1 is still operating as normal. But that doesn’t mean it can’t come back home again!
FAQ
Is Voyager 1 ever coming back?
Launched by NASA in 1977, Voyager 1 is a magnificent spacecraft that is the first of its kind to enter interstellar space and travel beyond the limits of our solar system. Voyager 1 is still traveling through space, sending back important information about the interstellar medium and the far corners of our solar system. But since Voyager 1 was intended to be a one-way exploratory mission, the idea of it “coming back” is not relevant in the conventional sense. The spaceship is predicted to keep traveling away from Earth indefinitely, and even while its signals will eventually become weaker, they should still be observable for a very long time. Voyager 1 offers insights into the immense emptiness of space beyond our planetary neighborhood and is a monument to human curiosity and technological success.
Is Voyager 1 still transmitting data?
Even though Voyager 1 was more than 14 billion miles away from Earth, it was still sending data back to the planet. The spacecraft was launched in 1977 and has shown to be a robust explorer. It takes roughly 21 hours for the spacecraft’s radio signals to reach Earth. Voyager 1 has yielded invaluable information on cosmic rays, magnetic fields, and the density of space beyond the influence of our sun, which has greatly advanced our understanding of the outer solar system and interstellar space. But as its power supplies steadily run low, experts predict that the spacecraft will finally stop sending out data as its systems and equipment fail due to the extreme conditions of deep space. Nevertheless, scientists and space fans alike will continue to be enthralled by the ongoing legacy of Voyager 1’s revolutionary mission and the abundance of information it has supplied.
How long does it take to get a signal back from Voyager 1?
Voyager 1 is more over 14 billion miles away from Earth, thus it takes a signal almost 21 hours to return. Voyager 1, which NASA launched in 1977, is currently the farthest-flung artificial object in space. Radio signals travel at the speed of light over a period of more than a day to reach Earth from the spaceship due to the huge distance between the two bodies in space. As scientists and engineers wait for data from Voyager 1, this transmission delay presents special obstacles that almost completely prevent real-time control or modifications. In spite of these obstacles, Voyager 1’s continuous data transmission has yielded priceless insights about the furthest regions of our solar system and the line separating our sun’s influence from interstellar space.
Is Voyager 1 still sending pictures?
There is no camera on board Voyager 1 that is intended for taking pictures. The main sensors on board the spacecraft are designed to gather data on magnetic fields, plasma waves, cosmic rays, and other scientific measures. Even though Voyager 1 sent back some of the most well-known photos of our solar system, such as the well-known “Pale Blue Dot” picture of Earth, these images were captured as part of the spacecraft’s mission to investigate the outer planets and are not currently being sent by Voyager 1. The spacecraft’s primary objective has been to offer scientific observations rather than visual documentation, and its ability to record and send photographs has been limited.
What was the first picture Voyager 1 took?
The image that became widely recognized as the first picture shot by Voyager 1 is referred to as the “Family Portrait.” On February 14, 1990, at a distance of approximately 4 billion miles from Earth, Voyager 1 pointed its camera back toward the inner solar system and took this famous picture. Six planets are seen in the image: Earth, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. But the far-off Earth, which appears as a small, pale blue dot in the expanse of space, is the image’s most moving feature. This striking image, popularly referred to as the “Pale Blue Dot” picture, was shot as part of a series to mark the end of Voyager 1’s main mission and offer a rare and sobering viewpoint of Earth from the furthest regions of the solar system.
Did we lose Voyager 2?
The image that became widely recognized as the first picture shot by Voyager 1 is referred to as the “Family Portrait.” On February 14, 1990, at a distance of approximately 4 billion miles from Earth, Voyager 1 pointed its camera back toward the inner solar system and took this famous picture. Six planets are seen in the image: Earth, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. But the far-off Earth, which appears as a small, pale blue dot in the expanse of space, is the image’s most moving feature. This striking image, popularly referred to as the “Pale Blue Dot” picture, was shot as part of a series to mark the end of Voyager 1’s main mission and offer a rare and sobering viewpoint of Earth from the furthest regions of the solar system.
Why is there no Voyager 3?
NASA began the Voyager program in 1977, with two spacecraft: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Voyager 3 was not launched. Based on mission objectives and available resources, the decision to launch only two spacecraft was made strategically. The main objective of the Voyager mission was to do a comprehensive orbit of the outer planets, offering previously unheard-of intimate views and information about Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. This mission was successfully completed by both Voyager 1 and 2, which returned with important data and memorable pictures. Voyager 3, a third spacecraft, was considered superfluous for the program’s main goals. Due to the Voyager missions’ success, new space exploration initiatives, including missions and spacecraft aimed at achieving certain scientific objectives in various parts of our solar system and beyond, have been made possible.
