Almost half a century ago, NASA appointed its Voyager 1 for studying the outer solar system and bring back precious info. The space probe is wandering through space at 38,000 mph (61,000 km/h), and it has reached distances that some astronomers weren’t even dreaming about. Built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is a federally funded research center and NASA field center, the Voyager 1 spacecraft also needed an investment of $250 million.
Voyager 1 even managed to go beyond our solar system, as it’s now heading towards other stars. Of course, we won’t ever be able to witness the arrival of the space probe to another solar system, but future generations could be luckier. Voyager 1 could exceed all odds if it has enough time.
150 AU from the Sun
The Voyager 1 spacecraft reached an incredible milestone, as it’s now located at 150 AU (astronomical units) from our star. One astronomical unit is equal to the distance between Earth and the Sun, which means 93 million miles. This means that the spacecraft has traveled about five times the distance between the Sun and Neptune. Neptune is the farthest planet from our host star, and the distance between the two cosmic objects is 30 AU.
Voyager 1 was launched way back in 1977, and it needed 35 years to leave the solar system. On August 2012, the space probe became the first object made by humans that traveled beyond the solar system. Astronomers continue to have a lot of faith in Voyager 1, as the gear was packed with a variety of sounds and images to present to any possible alien civilizations that it may encounter during its travel. The space probe even carries greetings recorded in 55 languages.
Most astronomers are certain that we can’t be alone in the Universe, but the main problem would be that the distances between us and alien civilizations are way too big to be crossed so easily. But if we are alone in this apparently infinite amount of space, we have to admit that this scenario sounds a bit frightening as well.
