Voyager 1

Launch data: Designation  10321 / 77084A Launch date  05 Sep 1977 - 12:56:01 UT Launch site  CC, LC-41 Launch vehicle  Titan-3E Centaur-D1T (#23E-6/TC-6) Mission  Flyby of Jupiter & Saturn - Interpl. sonde Sonde type  Star-37E Post Saturn orbit Perihelion / Aphelion  8.76 x ~ Eccentricity  3.72 Inclination  35.76 deg Period   -

Spacecraft data: Prime contractor   Operator  NASA / JPL Platform   Mass at launch   kg Dry Mass  795 kg Basic shape  Decagon + dish Dimension  1.5 long - 1.9 and 3.7 dia Solar array   Stabilization   DC power   Design lifetime  Indefinite

Voyager

Mission details:

• Passed 280000 km from Jupiter on 1979 Mar 5.5; 124000 km under Saturn on 1980 Nov 13.04.
• Flyby of Saturn moons Titan (at 3915 km), Rhea (at 73216 km) on Nov 12 and Mimas (at 88231 km) on Nov 13, 1980 (05:40, 06:21 and 01:42 UT).
• Left Solar system in direction of Alpha Ophiuchi. It is the first probe to leave the Solar System.
• In 1993 at 50 AU from Sun, travelling at 3.5 AU/year.
• In 2002 March at 84 AU from Sun, at 3.6 AU/year.
• On 2006 Aug 13 at 2113 UTC, Voyager 1 reached 100 AU from the Sun.
• On Jan 1, 2010 Voyager 1 was 112.1 AU from the Sun and Voyager 2 was 91.0 AU from the Sun.
• On Jan 1, 2022 Voyager 1 was 155.36 AU from the Sun and Voyager 2 was 129.28 AU from the Sun.

Current status:

• As of May 29, 2011, Voyager 1 is about 116.3935 astronomical units (1.741222×1010 km) from the Sun. The magnitude of the Sun from Voyager 1 is -16.4, or the dimmest as seen from any of the five space probes leaving the Solar System. Radio signals traveling at the speed of light between Voyager 1 and Earth take 16.12 hours to cross the distance between the two. Voyager 1's current relative velocity to the sun is 17.060 km/s (61,420 km/h). This calculates as 3.599 AU per year, about 10% faster than Voyager 2. At this velocity, 73,600 years would pass before reaching the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, were the spacecraft traveling in the direction of that star. Voyager 1 will need about 14,000 years at its current velocity to travel one light year, therefore 40,000 years will pass before coming anywhere near other stars or planets. Voyager 1 is predicted to enter the interstellar medium between 2012-15, though some scientists say it will be in 2014. Voyager 1 is still the farthest man made object in the universe from Earth.
• As of May 21, 2011, the spacecraft is at 12.44° declination and 17.163 hours right ascension, and is at an ecliptic latitude of 34.9° (the ecliptic latitude changes very slowly), placing it in the constellation Ophiuchus as observed from the Earth. NASA continues its daily tracking of Voyager 1 with its Deep Space Network. This network measures both the elevation and azimuth angles of the incoming radio waves from Voyager 1, and it also measures the distance from the Earth to Voyager 1.
• Voyager 1 is not heading towards any particular star, but in about 40,000 years it will pass within 1.6 light years of the star AC+79 3888 in the constellation Camelopardalis. That star is generally moving towards our Solar System at about 119 km/s (430,000 km/h).
• Aug 2013: JPL and NASA have reported that Voyager 1 appears to have left the heliosphere and entered a transitional part of the interstellar medium. Plasma wave measurements show that the ambient plasma density increased after 2012 Aug to a value consistent with being the ISM, consistent with the change in energetic particle density on 2012 Aug 25.
  
• Voyager is outside the solar atmosphere with escape velocity, but it has NOT yet 'left the Solar System' and won't do for many centuries yet.
• Gravitationally, the System stretches out to 1000 times Voyager′s current distance until the galactic tidal potential dominates. For a smaller scale analogy, think of space probe launched from Earth on an escape trajectory. Leaving parking orbit, it passes through the geostationary belt and then out to the magnetopause at a few tens of thousands of km, where it it emerges into the interplanetary medium. But its orbit is still influenced by the Earth rather than the Sun until it leaves the sphere of influence at around 1 million km ( 1.5 million if you use the equipotential surface marked by the L1 point).
• Nevertheless, VGR-1 is the first human artifact to directly taste the interstellar air, a milestone worth celebrating.

External links:

• NASA: Voyager status