Voyager 1 Remains Earth's Far-Flung Messenger Despite Power Woes
NASA's Voyager 1, launched in 1977, remains the farthest human-made object and still sends data from interstellar space. Its plutonium RTGs are decaying, so JPL is rationing power by turning off nonessential instruments and managing heaters to keep critical systems like the thruster lines warm. Signals take about 23 hours to travel from Voyager 1 to Earth, meaning a response would take a full day, and the team hopes to keep the mission alive into the 2030s while the golden record aboard continues to carry humanity's greetings into the cosmos.
