@into.space.7: Half a century later, Voyager 1 is about to reach a distance where light takes a full day to reach it. By late 2026, NASA expects the spacecraft to be one light-day away from Earth, about 16 billion miles (26 billion km). That means any command sent to Voyager will take 24 hours to arrive, and another 24 hours for a response to come back. A simple “hello” becomes a two-day conversation. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is the farthest human-made object ever built, traveling at about 38,000 mph (61,000 km/h). It has already left the Sun’s protective bubble, known as the heliosphere, and is now moving through interstellar space. Even now, it’s still sending back data, though at speeds slower than early dial-up internet. Engineers have to plan carefully. If something goes wrong, they can’t fix it quickly. The spacecraft must rely on its own systems to survive. Nearly 50 years later, Voyager 1 is still going. And with every passing day, it’s slipping further beyond our reach.

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Thursday 26 March 2026 07:09:41 GMT