After thirty-six years and 11.5 billion miles of space travel, NASA announced on Thursday, Sept. 12 that their Voyager 1 space probe has left the solar system.
This made Voyager 1 the first ever machine to enter interstellar space, the area between the stars in our galaxy.
NASA has concluded that Voyager 1 left the solar system more than a year ago, but at the time scientists were unsure. The matter that exists in interstellar space is its most distinguishing property, and it took scientists time to analyze the data and conclude that Voyager 1 had, in fact, exited our solar system.
Before Voyager 1 became the farthest man-made object from earth, its purpose was to fly by both Jupiter and Saturn. The probe collected beautiful photographs of both planets, while simultaneously using the planets’ gravity to slingshot itself to infinity and beyond.
The space probe continues to travel at roughly 38,000 miles per hour, and will continue to relay information back to Earth until some point in 2025 when the nuclear powered space probe runs out of power. Until then, Voyager 1 will continue to collect data and study the exotic particles and space phenomena that exist in interstellar space.
On the rare chance that the space probe encounters extraterrestrial life, Voyager 1 was equipped with a sort of time capsule from Earth. It contains a variety of sound and music recordings, photographs of Earth landscapes and creatures, spoken greetings in fifty-nine languages, and printed messages from former President of the United States Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim.
According to NASA, when Voyager 1’s finite power source is depleted, it will continue to fly through space as a silent ambassador.
Leave a Reply