![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/jupiter-moon-io-aeb875a.jpg\")
A view of Jupiter’s moon Io captured by the Galileo spacecraft. Credit: NASA\/JPL\/University of Arizona<\/p>\nAs humanity’s longest-lasting space mission pushes deeper into space, NASA engineers are having to think on their feet, pulling off creative problem-solving to keep our most distant spacecraft alive.<\/p>\n
Voyager 1, the farthest human-made object, is racing towards a historic milestone.<\/p>\n
On 18 November, the spacecraft will reach a distance of 16.09 billion miles (25.89 billion kilometres) from Earth.<\/p>\n
At that point, it will be one \u2018light-day\u2019 from home, a light-day being the distance light travels through a vacuum in 24 hours.<\/p>\n
More incredible spaceflight<\/p>\n
A view of Jupiter’s moon Io captured by the Galileo spacecraft. Credit: NASA\/JPL\/University of Arizona<\/p>\n
![\"Voyager](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/voyager-1-images-of-jupiter.jpg\")
Voyager 1 images of Jupiter captured on December 10 and 11, 1978. Credit: NASA\/JPL<\/p>\n
That means if we could observe the Voyager 1 spacecraft, we’d be looking back in time, seeing it as it existed 24 hours ago.<\/p>\n
And that, of course, makes talking to the Voyager probes a tricky process for scientists back on Earth.<\/p>\n
“If you want to say \u2018hello\u2019 to Voyager, you send your message and then you go home and you wait two days before you finally get a response,” says Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at NASA’s Het Propulsion Laboratory.<\/p>\n
![\"NASA's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/voyager-1-launch.jpg\")
NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft launched from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex in Florida on 5 September 1977. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech
\nThe Big Bang energy swap<\/p>\n
Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977 on a mission to fly through the Solar System and capture images and data to reveal the secrets of its planets and moons.<\/p>\n
Voyager 2, which had been launched earlier on August 20 1977, travelled onwards to the outer Solar System, also capturing views of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.<\/p>\n
Naturally, the Voyager probes are running out of fuel. So in order to help the spacecraft reach the historic light-day milestone with scientific gear still running, Voyager 1 recently underwent a major overhaul.<\/p>\n
The probes rely on radioisotope thermoelectric generators, which convert the heat of decaying plutonium into electricity.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/voyager-2-planets.jpg\")
A montage of images of the planets visited by Voyager 2, using real images captured by the spacecraft. Credit: NASA\/JPL<\/p>\n
As the plutonium depletes over time, Voyager 1 loses roughly 4 watts of electrical power every year.<\/p>\n
The team have been switching off science instruments to keep the spacecraft going.<\/p>\n
And in order to prevent another science instrument from being turned off as early as summer 2027, engineers executed a manoeuvre in early September 2026 nicknamed the ‘Big Bang’.<\/p>\n
The NASA team turned off three warming devices on Voyager 1 and substituted them with three lower-power alternatives.<\/p>\n
This happened about six weeks after the team had performed a similar swap on Voyager 2.<\/p>\n
These six devices are vital to keeping the spacecraft warm enough to function in the cold depths of space.<\/p>\n
What’s more, the swap had to happen simultaneously so the heat remained properly distributed across the probe, while also reducing overall power usage.<\/p>\n
This, the team hopes, will allow Voyager 1\u2019s remaining operational science instruments to collect data longer than previously expected.<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Voyager-Header-9551baa.jpg\")
An artist’s impression of the Voyager spacecraft at the edge of the heliosphere. Credit: NASA.
\nExpecting the unexpected<\/p>\n
Even with energy-saving measures in place, operating a spacecraft billions of miles away brings continuous surprises.<\/p>\n
Between October 18 and 19, 2026, NASA\u2019s Deep Space Network \u2013\u00a0a global network of giant antennas used to track deep-space missions \u2013 briefly lost contact with Voyager 1 during two scheduled communications attempts, spaced 24 hours apart.<\/p>\n
The sudden radio silence resolved itself on October 20 when the spacecraft’s signal reappeared, allowing engineers to restore contact and begin troubleshooting.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/jupiter-ring-623f9b6.jpg\")
The Voyager 1 mission was the first to reveal there is a faint ring around Jupiter. The location of the ring is indicated here in white. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/p>\n
The team discovered that one group of thrusters had gone offline, triggering the spacecraft\u2019s onboard computers to automatically switch to a backup set.<\/p>\n
This safety response, known as ‘fault protection’, causes Voyager 1 to pause operations and place itself in a stable configuration, in order to give flight controllers on Earth time to diagnose issues.<\/p>\n
“This is the first time we\u2019ve seen the spacecraft do something like this, but we are also at a point in the mission where we have to expect the unexpected,\u201d says Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager at NASA\u2019s JPL.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re relieved to be back in contact with Voyager 1 and are eager to understand what happened.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Voyager-Solar-System-portrait-5bb390c.jpeg\")
A portrait of the Solar System featuring Earth as a ‘pale blue dot’, captured by the Voyager 1 mission from a distance of over 4 billion miles from Earth. Credit: NASA
\nThe trouble with interstellar travel<\/p>\n
Voyager 1 was originally equipped with 10 dedicated science instruments at launch, but several were turned off following its planetary flybys.<\/p>\n
Others were kept active to study the outer heliosphere, which is the vast bubble of charged particles and magnetic fields blown across the Solar System by our Sun.<\/p>\n
Today, Voyager 1 and its twin Voyager 2 are in interstellar space, the vast region beyond the heliosphere.<\/p>\n
They remain the only human spacecraft in history to directly reach this region of space.<\/p>\n
And when Voyager 1 crosses the one light-day threshold on November 18, 2026, it will mark an unforgettable milestone in space exploration \u2013\u00a0a testament to human engineering and our enduring desire to rexplore the unknown.<\/p>\n