Launched for the first time in 1977, the twin Voyager spacecraft represent NASA’s longest-running mission.
Simulation of Voyager 2 traveling beyond the Solar System. (Image: NASA/ESA)
NASA launched Voyager 2 and Voyager 1 – two twin spacecraft – on August 20 and September 5, 1977. Both spacecraft are still on their journey to explore the universe and are the only probes to have ventured into interstellar space after passing through the heliosphere. The heliosphere is a protective bubble created by the Sun’s magnetic field and the stream of charged particles known as solar wind.
Some NASA researchers are combining observations from the Voyager spacecraft with data from more recent space exploration missions to create a comprehensive picture of the Sun and how the heliosphere interacts with interstellar space.
“Solar physics missions provide invaluable insights into the Sun, from the corona, which is the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, to examining the Sun’s impact on the solar system, including Earth,” said Nicola Fox, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA headquarters in Washington. “Over the past 45 years, the Voyager mission has transformed our understanding of the Sun and the influence of this star in ways that no other spacecraft has.”
Voyager 1 and 2 have explored every giant planet at the outer edge of the solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune), along with 48 moons and their unique ring systems and magnetic fields.
As of April 2020, Voyager 1 is 22.4 billion kilometers away from the Sun and continues its mission to explore distant regions of the universe.
