Voyager 1 to reach 1 light-day from Earth in November 2026

• V: dot, dot, dot, dash
• G: dash, dash, dot
• R: dot, dash, dot

NASA also offers an automated flasher for the pattern. The agency hopes the worldwide display will celebrate humanity’s achievement in sending a spacecraft farther into space than anything else it has built.

Why is Voyager 2 nine years behind?

Voyager 2 launched a few weeks before its sister craft, but took a “Grand Tour” of the outer planets. It visited all four gas giants—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—while Voyager 1 visited only Jupiter and Saturn. NASA expects Voyager 2 to reach 1 light-day in November 2035, nine years after Voyager 1’s date.

Voyager 2 is about 2 billion miles (3.2 billion kilometers) closer to Earth, but it moves more slowly and can never catch Voyager 1. Their paths also diverge: Voyager 1 heads “up” out of the solar system’s main plane toward the Ophiuchus constellation, while Voyager 2 heads “down” toward Andromeda.

Are the Voyagers still functioning?

Both spacecraft still communicate with Earth, although a one-way message now takes approximately one day. Most of their instruments no longer work, and NASA has shut down one system after another to conserve power.

In April 2026, the agency switched off the Low-Energy Charged Particle instrument, which detects electrons, ions and cosmic rays in interstellar space, the space between stars. NASA says it could turn the instrument back on in the future for new measurements.

What is aboard the golden records?

Both probes carry golden records etched with images and sounds representing life on Earth. The records are largely symbolic, meant to represent Earth and give any alien civilization that finds one a glimpse of its origins.

Interstellar space means the space between stars. Carl Sagan said:

“The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space, but the launching of this ‘bottle’ into the cosmic ‘ocean’ says something very hopeful about life on this planet.”

The milestone will mark both a distance record and a 24-hour delay in Voyager 1’s communications. Its instruments remain largely switched off, but the spacecraft continues sending signals home as NASA invites people worldwide to flash V-G-R.