The end of an era in space exploration is closer than ever. NASA it is already considered to turn off the instruments of the space probes Voyager 1 y Voyager 2launched in 1977.
With this action they intend to extend its useful life by about eight more years (until 2030) so that it reaches an even further distance.
space probes Voyager they are the human-made objects that have been in space the longest. They are also the probes that have gone the furthest.
They have now left the Solar System. Both are in a region where they have already surpassed the heliosphereprotective zone of the external radiation of our planetary system.
And they are also outside the heliopausethe location where our solar winds and those of other massive stars in the Milky Way meet.
The Voyager probes were only supposed to last five years in action. they were just going to study Jupiter y Saturn. Its useful life time has been extended almost 10 times longer than expected.
“We’re 44 1/2 years in, so we’ve done 10 times the guarantee on the damn things,” NASA physicist Ralph McNutt said, according to a review. Daily Mail.
How far away are Voyagers from NASA?
As we mentioned, both probes are already outside the solar system. But how much is that in kilometers of distance?
In the case of Voyager 1, launched on September 5, 1977, it is currently 23.3 billion kilometers away. It would take a 20-hour, 33-minute trip at the speed of light to reach it.
While in the case of Voyager 2, sent on August 20 of the same year (one month earlier), it is 19.3 billion kilometers away. We would arrive in 18 hours if we mastered the speed of light.