Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Voyager 1 Nears One Light-Day From Earth, With Milestone Expected in 2026

The approaching 24-hour light-time will force multi-day command cycles for a probe now sending limited data with dwindling power.

Overview

  • Mission projections place Voyager 1 at one light-day from Earth on November 15, 2026, a distance of about 16.1 billion miles (25.9 billion km).
  • As of late November 2025 the spacecraft is roughly 15.79 billion miles (25.3 billion km) away, remaining the most distant human-made object.
  • One-way signal time is about 23 hours, with operations planning for longer delays as the probe approaches a full day of light travel time.
  • NASA continues to maintain contact through the Deep Space Network, with four instruments still returning data: cosmic rays, low-energy charged particles, magnetometer, and plasma waves.
  • Engineers recently mitigated a thruster issue linked to a fuel-line blockage by activating backup thrusters and briefly shutting a heater, while managing declining RTG power expected to limit operations over the next decade.