• Nasa's Voyager 1 has entered a new region of space between the Solar System and interstellar space in what Nasa has described as a 'cosmic purgatory'.
  • The spacecraft is close to leaving the Solar System and into the uncharted territory of the Milky Way after more than three decades in space. 
  • Voyager 1 was launched with its twin, Voyager 2, by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) in 1977.

  • Voyager 1 is travelling at just under 11 miles per second and sending information from nearly 11 billion miles away from the sun.

  • It is about to become the first man-made object to leave the Solar System, although Nasa expects it to take between several months and years before it completely enters interstellar space. Voyager 2 will follow later.
  • The primary mission for the spacecrafts was the exploration of Jupiter and Saturn.

  • Voyager 1 and 2 both hold a a gold-coated copper phonograph record.

  • The record contains over 100 photographs of earth, a selection of greetings from languages around the world and a variety of sounds from the Earth.

  • The Voyagers have enough power and fuel to operate until at least 2020.
It is predicted by that point that Voyager 1 will be 12.4 billion miles from the Sun, whilst Voyager 2 will be 10.5 billion miles away
 
Top