NASA Voyager 1 reaches one light-day from Earth
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft will become the first human-made object to reach a distance of one light-day from Earth on Wednesday.
Spacecraft hits new distance record
The probe launched 49 years ago is now more than 16 billion miles away. Its radio signals will take exactly 24 hours to travel back to Earth when the milestone occurs. NASA urges the public to create a wave of golden light using phones or flashlights after sunset Tuesday. People should use Morse code to spell the letters V-G-R into the night sky to celebrate this moment.
Mission continues despite age
Project manager Suzanne Dodd calls the spacecraft a national treasure while it provides a sense of wonder. Voyager 1 travels at 38,000 mph and has been in interstellar space since 2012. The twin Voyager 2 will not reach this one-light-day mark until 2035 according to current projections. Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena send commands about once a week to maintain operations.
Team works through glitches
The flight control team recently completed power-conserving efforts for the plutonium-powered spacecraft in September. They briefly lost contact with it in October and are still trying to figure out why communication was disrupted. Retirees sometimes help the operation when sporadic problems arise typical of old age. The mission continues to beam details about magnetic fields, pressure, dust and galactic cosmic rays daily.
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