07/09/2026
Voyager 1 has been talking to Earth for nearly half a century, but eventually there will be a final signal.
Launched in 1977, it is now the most distant human-made object ever created, more than 25 billion kilometres from Earth and travelling through interstellar space. A radio message currently takes about 23 hours to travel between Voyager 1 and Earth.
The spacecraft is powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which convert heat from decaying plutonium into electricity. But that power supply weakens with age. Voyager loses roughly 4 watts of available power every year, forcing NASA engineers to progressively shut down heaters and scientific instruments. In April 2026, NASA switched off another Voyager 1 instrument to buy the spacecraft more operating time.
The year 2036 isn’t a guaranteed shutdown date. NASA says the spacecraft could remain within communication range of the Deep Space Network until roughly 2036, depending on whether it still has enough power to transmit a detectable signal. Science operations may end considerably earlier.
And when Voyager finally goes silent, it won’t stop moving. There is no destination programmed into it and no engine guiding it toward another star. It will simply continue along the trajectory gravity and momentum have given it, orbiting through the Milky Way for immense stretches of time. NASA calculates that around the year 40,272, Voyager 1 will pass within about 1.7 light-years of the star AC+79 3888.
Even after humanity can no longer hear it, Voyager will still carry the Golden Record containing sounds, music, images and greetings from Earth.
One day the signal will disappear into the noise, but the spacecraft itself may continue wandering between the stars long after the civilization that launched it is gone.
Source: NASA
