It just keeps going and going and going … | Shutterstock

September 12, 2024

Despite Voyager 1’s lifespan coming closer to an end, the team at NASA is still communicating with the satellite as it drifts farther out into interstellar space. 

The 47-year-old satellite uses tiny thrusters to keep itself pointed back to Earth so it can send and receive information. However, these thrusters can become clogged with age, and twice since 2002, NASA has had to switch which thruster it uses to keep the satellite facing the right direction. NASA has to do it a third time this August, switching back to the initial thruster it used, from more than 15.3 billion miles away. It is amazing to see 50-year-old technology still working in the vastness of space. I can’t get my 8- and 5-year-old kids to listen to me from 2 feet away.

Voyager 1 is expected operate into 2025 and send back data for at least a few more years. Either way, the clock is ticking to 2036, when the satellite will be out of range of the Deep Space Network. 

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