Humanity's First Interstellar Journey - Voyager 1
Voyager 1 is a spaceship which was launched by NASA on September 5, 1977. It surpassed numerous milestones in space exploration. As the first human made object that entered interstellar space, Voyager 1 has provided valuable data about our solar system and the space beyond. Voyager 1 is still traveling endlessly into interstellar space, breaking countless records for humankind.
Voyager 1 continues its journey through interstellar space. Image courtesy of NASA
Launch and Mission Objectives
Voyager 1 was a part of NASA’s 'Voyager' program, which included another spaceship named Voyager 2. The primary mission was to take advantage of a rare planetary alignment that occurs once every 176 years. This alignment helped the spaceships to visit multiple planets using gravitational force with less usage of fuel. Voyager 1's main mission was to explore Jupiter and Saturn, studying their atmospheres, rings, moons and taking clear pictures. (NASA, 2024)
Voyager 1 launched from Cape Canaveral abroad a Titan-Centaur rocket. Image courtesy of NASA
Jupiter Flyby (1979)
Voyager 1 made its closest approach to Jupiter on March 5, 1979. This mission captured the first detailed pictures of the planet's atmosphere, inhabitable weather system and the famous 'Great Red Spot.' Voyager 1 also discovered active volcanoes on one of the moons of Jupiter, Io. It was the first time that any volcanic activity has been observed on another body in the solar system. (NASA, 2024)
Pictures of Jupiter taken by Voyager 1. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech
Saturn Flyby (1980)
Voyager 1 passed by Saturn on November 12, 1980. This mission captured the uncommon pictures and data on the planet’s complex ring system and its largest moon, Titan. The success of this mission was that it revealed Titan’s dense atmosphere, rich in nitrogen and organic compounds which makes it potentially habitable for life. (NASA, 2024)
Pictures of Saturn taken by Voyager 1. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Grand Tour
After completing its primary mission, Voyager 1 continued its journey towards the outer edges of the solar system. This event was termed 'Grand Tour.' During the journey, it studied the outer planets and the heliosphere, the bubble like region of space controlled by the solar wind and magnetic field. (Talcott, Explore the Grand Tour, 2019)
An artist's illustration of Voyager 1 spaceship entering interstellar space. Image courtesy of CNN
The Pale Blue Dot (1990)
One of the most iconic moments in Voyager 1's mission and as well as for humankind, occurred on February 14, 1990. A famous astronomer Carl Sagan requested NASA to turn Voyager 1's camera towards Earth. It captured the famous 'Pale Blue Dot' picture from a distance of 6 billion kilometers away from Earth. The picture showed the Earth as a tiny dot in the vastness of space. This picture became a powerful symbol of humanity's place in the cosmos. (Sagan, 1994; NASA, n.d.)
Pale Blue Dot. Image courtesy of NASA
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you
love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who
ever was, lived out their lives."
— Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994
The Golden Record
One of the special features of Voyager 1 is 'The Golden Record.' It is a 12-inch gold-plated copper disc that contains sounds and pictures to portray the diversity of life and the culture on Earth. The Golden Record was designed by a committee led by Carl Sagan. It includes greetings in 55 languages, music from various cultures and eras, and sounds of nature. The Golden Record is intended as a message for any intelligent extraterrestrial life about Earth, humankind that might encounter Voyager 1 in the future. (NASA, 2024)
The Golden Record. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech
Crossing the Heliopause (2012)
On August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 made history by crossing the heliopause, the boundary where the solar wind ends and interstellar space begins. This event made Voyager 1 the first human made object to enter interstellar space. The spaceship started sending back data about the conditions in this new area, giving the measurements of interstellar space. (AccessScience Editors, 2014)
Illustration of the heliosphere which includes results from
the Voyager 1. Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Voyager 1's Legacy and Future
Voyager 1 continues to send data back to Earth but its power supply is slowly decreasing. By around 2025, it is expected that the spaceship will no longer be able to power any of its machines. But we can predict the journey of Voyager 1 by some interesting mathematical calculations. It is predicted that Voyager 1 will pass relatively close to the star, Gliese 445, located in the constellation Camelopardalis, in about 40,000 years. It is also predicted that it would take Voyager 1 around 73,000 years to reach the nearest star of Sun, Proxima Centauri. Voyager 1 will continue to orbit the center of the Milky Way galaxy. It will take approximately 500 million years to complete a single orbit around the galaxy, but it will never leave the Milky Way due to the galaxy’s gravitational force. It is also mathematically predicted that Voyager 1 will pass Milky Way galaxy in next 5 billion years.
Illustration of Voyager 1 drifting through space. Image courtesy of Stock Image
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