Voyager 1

For other uses, see Voyager 1 (disambiguation).

Voyager 1
Artist's rendering of the Voyager spacecraft, a small-bodied spacecraft with a large, central dish and multiple arms and antennas extending from the dish
Artist's rendering of the Voyager spacecraft design
Mission typeOuter planetary, heliosphere, and interstellar medium exploration
OperatorNASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory
COSPAR ID1977-084A[1]
SATCAT no.10321[1]
Websitevoyager.jpl.nasa.gov
Mission duration
  • 47 years, 2 months, 12 days

elapsed

  • Planetary mission: 3 years, 3 months, 9 days
  • Interstellar mission: 43 years, 11 months, 4 days elapsed
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft typeMariner Jupiter-Saturn
ManufacturerJet Propulsion Laboratory
Launch mass815 kg (1,797 lb)[2]
Dry mass721.9 kg (1,592 lb)[3]
Power470 watts (at launch)
Start of mission
Launch dateSeptember 5, 1977, 12:56:01 (1977-09-05UTC12:56:01Z) UTC
RocketTitan IIIE
Launch siteCape Canaveral Launch Complex 41
End of mission
Last contact2036 (planned)
Flyby of Jupiter
Closest approachMarch 5, 1979
Distance349,000 km (217,000 mi)
Flyby of Saturn
Closest approachNovember 12, 1980
Distance124,000 km (77,000 mi)
Flyby of Titan (atmosphere study)
Closest approachNovember 12, 1980
Distance6,490 km (4,030 mi)
Large Strategic Science Missions
Planetary Science Division
Heliocentric positions of the five interstellar probes (squares) and other bodies (circles) until 2020, with launch and flyby dates. Markers denote positions on 1 January of each year, with every fifth year labelled.
Plot 1 is viewed from the north ecliptic pole, to scale.
Plots 2 to 4 are third-angle projections at 20% scale.
In the SVG file, hover over a trajectory or orbit to highlight it and its associated launches and flybys.

Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2. It communicates through the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) to receive routine commands and to transmit data to Earth. Real-time distance and velocity data are provided by NASA and JPL.[4] At a distance of 165.9 AU (24.8 billion km; 15.4 billion mi) from Earth as of November 2024,[4] it is the most distant human-made object from Earth.[5] The probe made flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn's largest moon, Titan. NASA had a choice of either doing a Pluto or Titan flyby; exploration of the moon took priority because it was known to have a substantial atmosphere.[6][7][8] Voyager 1 studied the weather, magnetic fields, and rings of the two gas giants and was the first probe to provide detailed images of their moons.

As part of the Voyager program and like its sister craft Voyager 2, the spacecraft's extended mission is to locate and study the regions and boundaries of the outer heliosphere and to begin exploring the interstellar medium. Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause and entered interstellar space on August 25, 2012, making it the first spacecraft to do so.[9][10] Two years later, Voyager 1 began experiencing a third wave of coronal mass ejections from the Sun that continued to at least December 15, 2014, further confirming that the probe is in interstellar space.[11]

In 2017, the Voyager team successfully fired the spacecraft's trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) thrusters for the first time since 1980, enabling the mission to be extended by two to three years.[12] Voyager 1's extended mission is expected to continue to return scientific data until at least 2025, with a maximum lifespan of until 2030.[13] Its radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) may supply enough electric power to return engineering data until 2036.[14]

  1. ^ a b "Voyager 1". NSSDC Master Catalog. NASA/NSSDC. Archived from the original on January 30, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
  2. ^ "NASA – Voyager Facts". NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center website. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  3. ^ "Voyager 1". NASA's Solar System Exploration website. Archived from the original on April 18, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Voyager – Mission Status". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Archived from the original on January 1, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2024.
  5. ^ "Voyager 1". BBC Solar System. Archived from the original on February 3, 2018. Retrieved September 4, 2018.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference nasa-1990 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "New Horizons conducts flyby of Pluto in historic Kuiper Belt encounter". July 12, 2015. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  8. ^ "What If Voyager Had Explored Pluto?". Archived from the original on April 13, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  9. ^ "Interstellar Mission". NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  10. ^ Barnes, Brooks (September 12, 2013). "In a Breathtaking First, NASA Craft Exits the Solar System". New York Times. Archived from the original on March 11, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  11. ^ Claven, Whitney (July 7, 2014). "Sun Sends More 'Tsunami Waves' to Voyager 1". NASA. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  12. ^ Wall, Mike (December 1, 2017). "Voyager 1 Just Fired Up its Backup Thrusters for the 1st Time in 37 Years". Space.com. Archived from the original on December 3, 2017. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
  13. ^ "Voyager 1 Launched 40 Years Ago Today". American Museum of Natural History. September 5, 2017. Archived from the original on May 2, 2024. Retrieved May 2, 2024.
  14. ^ "Voyager – Frequently Asked Questions". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Archived from the original on August 13, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2020.