Voyager 1 Reaches a Distance of 1 Light-Day From Earth

Metaverse Planet December 3, 2025Last Updated: December 3, 2025

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Voyager 1 is about to reach a distance of 25.9 billion kilometers from Earth. This distance means that it will take exactly 24 hours for a signal sent from Earth to reach the spacecraft.

Continuing its irreversible journey out of the Solar System, Voyager 1 is on the verge of another cosmic achievement. Towards the end of 2026, Voyager 1 will reach a distance where a radio signal sent from Earth takes exactly 24 hours to reach the spacecraft. This will go down in history as one of the farthest points reached by a human-made vehicle.

Although Einstein’s theory, which states that the speed of light sets the universal limit, may seem abstract on a daily scale, even a massive speed like 299,388 km/s can be insufficient in the face of the universe’s vastness. Especially at distances expressed in millions of kilometers, the slowness of the speed of light becomes even more apparent.

Voyager 1 Reaches New Thresholds

One of the best-known examples of this is the Apollo missions that took place more than 50 years ago. Due to the approximately 363,000-kilometer distance between the Moon and Earth, the astronauts’ conversations caused a 1.3-second delay in reaching the other side, with responses taking a total of 2.6 seconds. This delay increases to 4 minutes for Mars missions, 52 minutes for Jupiter, and up to 6.8 hours for Pluto. For this reason, vehicles in deep space missions must have high autonomy. Otherwise, delays in communication could cause a disaster for the operation.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 entered a one-way route out of the Solar System after its close flybys of Jupiter and Saturn. Despite extreme cold, intense radiation, and billions of kilometers of distance, the vehicle has continued to operate for nearly half a century and will continue its mission until its nuclear power source runs out. The vehicle, which continues to sacrifice its scientific instruments due to declining power generation, is predicted to remain functional until 2036.

As of today, Voyager 1 is approximately 25.3 billion km away from Earth. At this distance, it takes 23 hours and 33 minutes for a message to arrive. About a year later, around November 15, 2026, the spacecraft will reach a distance of 25.9 billion km, crossing the “one light-day” limit. Its sister spacecraft, Voyager 2, is slightly closer to us, at a distance of 19.5 light-hours from Earth.

Despite all this distance, communication with both vehicles is still provided via NASA’s Deep Space Network infrastructure. However, since confirming commands sent to Voyager 1 will take two days starting from late 2026, every operation on the spacecraft will become a process that takes place in “slow motion” for engineers.