What is

 

       One trillion years from today, when our Sun has died, our galaxy will no longer exist, and perhaps the entire universe will be on the verge of its end. Yet, one thing will remain: a tiny piece of metal created by humans, drifting alone through the dark cosmos. Its name is Voyager 1. Today, this spacecraft is 24 billion kilometres away from us, travelling at a speed of 17 kilometres per second. It’s the farthest object ever created by humans. But the real story now begins. Because Voyager One’s real journey is still ahead of it. It’s a journey like no other. It’s a journey that goes far beyond our imagination. 1 trillion years is 70 times longer than the entire age of our universe. In such a vast span of time, stars will die, galaxies will collide, and black holes will evaporate. And amidst all of this Voyager One will continue its journey in silence.

 The story of Voyager One begins in 1977. That year, NASA sent two spaceships into space. They were called Voyager One and Voyager Two. Their purpose was to study the planets outside our solar system. Specifically, they were designed to study Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus and Neptune. At that time, a special astronomical event was taking place: all four planets were in the same position in the sky. Its cameras, radiation detectors, magnetic field sensors, and plasma instruments all worked together to collect data from space. They had become mobile laboratories. And what made them most remarkable was their power source. They were powered by nuclear batteries. It’s a device filled with plutonium-238. It’s this battery that has kept it functioning to this day. But Voyager 1 carried something else with it as well, perhaps its most important feature. It was a gold disc called the “Golden Record”. This disc contained recordings of sounds from Earth, samples of human music, messages in various languages, and images of human civilization. It was a message meant to be sent into space. It’s also meant for another civilization. It will keep floating around. Voyager 1 did amazing things during its first few years in operation. In 1969, it got a close-up view of Jupiter and sent back stunning photographs of the planet. It also discovered active volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io, which were seen for the first time in the solar system. Then, in 1980, Voyager 1 visited Saturn and studied its rings in detail. During this mission, Saturn’s gravity caused Voyager 1 to be flung outward from the solar system.

After that, Voyager 1 continued its journey, leaving the Solar System behind. Its mission had changed now. It would try to reach beyond the Solar System. But this wasn’t an easy task. Around the Sun, there’s a huge bubble called the heliosphere. This bubble is formed by the solar wind emanating from the Sun. It’s considered the actual boundary of our Solar System. On August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 crossed this boundary. It was a historic moment in human history. For the first time, a human-made object had left the Solar System. Now, it’s on its way through interstellar space.

It is in space, the empty space between the stars. There’s no solar wind here. The area is filled with cosmic rays. The temperature is extremely low, close to absolute zero. Voyager 1 was alone in this new world back then, and it remains alone today. In 2026, Voyager 1 is approximately 24 billion kilometres away from us. It’s so far away that it takes about 22 hours for its signals to reach Earth.

Yes. In other words, when we send commands to it, it takes about 2 days for a response to come back. This image shows just how vast the distances in space are. We actually live in just a tiny portion of our solar system. Voyager 1 is still functioning, but its nuclear battery is gradually weakening, so its power is decreasing. NASA has turned off most of its instruments so that the little power that remains can be used for the most important tasks. Nevertheless, it’s still sending us data. It helps us understand what interstellar space is like, what the magnetic fields there are like, and what the intensity of cosmic radiation is. But according to scientists. It is said that by the 2030s, the Voyager One will completely stop functioning. Its battery will become so weak that it won’t be able to send any signals at all. But that doesn’t mean “That its journey will come to an end”. Its true journey will only begin when we take into account what it really is.

They’ll stop listening. From then on, Voyager 1 will become a silent traveller, continuing its journey through space forever. The first major milestone in Voyager 1’s silent journey will occur in about 400 years. At that time, it will pass by a star named Gliese 445. This star is located 17.6 light-years away from us. It’s far away, and it’s on the path of Voyager. But passing by it at a close distance is still considered a relatively short distance in astronomical terms. In fact, Voyager will pass by this star at a distance of 1.6 light-years. That’s a huge distance. But on the scale of space, it’s still considered relatively close. 400 years is a very long time, but compared to human history.

The competition is also extremely long. Our civilization is only 4000 years old at most. It’s hard to imagine what could happen in the next 400 years. Perhaps we’ll have settled on many planets by then. Maybe we’ll be extinct by then. Or maybe we’ll have transformed into completely new forms of life. But Voyager One will remain the same, just as it always has been.