What is Voyager 1 ?

2. Voyager 1 actually launched after Voyager 2. NASA launched Voyager 1 on September 5, 1977, 16 days after the launch of Voyager 2.

Voyager 1 is moving away from our solar system so fast that it could make it from the Sun to the Earth - a 93 million mile trip - in 3 months and a week.

Voyager 2 went on to explore Uranus and Neptune, and is still the only spacecraft to have visited those outer planets. The adventurers' current mission, the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM), will explore the outermost edge of the Sun's domain. And beyond.

spacecraft are slowing down, but this is because they're still escaping the gravitational pull of our Sun.

Voyager, in space exploration, either of a pair of robotic U.S. interplanetary probes launched to observe and to transmit information to Earth about the giant planets of the outer solar system and the farthest reaches of the Sun’s sphere of influence.

It takes a while, but they do. The Voyagers transmit data to Earth every day. The spacecraft collect information about their surrounding environment in real time and then send it back through radio signals. Voyager 1 data takes about 19 hours to reach Earth, and signals from Voyager 2 about 16 hours

Part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System, Voyager 1 launched 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2.

Voyager 2 was launched first, on August 20, 1977; Voyager 1 followed some two weeks later, on September 5. The twin-spacecraft mission took advantage of a rare orbital positioning of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune that permitted a multiplanet tour with relatively low fuel requirements and flight time.

The twin spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched by NASA in separate months in the summer of 1977 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The alignment allowed each spacecraft, following a particular trajectory, to use its fall into a planet’s gravitational field to increase its velocity and alter its direction enough to fling it to its next destination.

Using this gravity-assist, or slingshot, technique, Voyager 1 swung by Jupiter on March 5, 1979, and then headed for Saturn, which it reached on November 12, 1980. It then adopted a trajectory to take it out of the solar system. Voyager 2 traveled more slowly and on a longer trajectory than its partner.

As originally designed, the Voyagers were to conduct closeup studies of Jupiter and Saturn, Saturn's rings, and the larger moons of the two planets.

Having operated for 41 years and 3 months as of December 5, 2018, the spacecraft still communicates with the Deep Space Network to receive routine commands and return data.

It sped by Jupiter on July 9, 1979, and passed Saturn on August 25, 1981. It then flew past Uranus on January 24, 1986, and Neptune on August 25, 1989, before being hurled toward interstellar space. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited the latter two planets.

A signal from Voyager 1, traveling at the speed of light, takes 17 hours one way to reach Earth.

In astronomy, the interstellar medium (ISM) is the matter and radiation that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy.

On February 17, 1998, Voyager 1 overtook the space probe Pioneer 10 (launched 1972) to become the most distant human-made object in space. By 2004 both Voyagers were well beyond the orbit of Pluto.

This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as dust and cosmic rays. It fills interstellar space and blends smoothly into the surrounding intergalactic space.

In 2012 the Voyagers became the longest-operating spacecraft, having functioned for 35 years and still periodically transmitting data. On August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 became the first space probe to enter interstellar space when it crossed the heliopause, the outer limit of the Sun’s magnetic field and solar wind.

Voyager 2 launched on August 20, 1977, from Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard a Titan-Centaur rocket. On September 5, Voyager 1 launched, also from Cape Canaveral aboard a Titan-Centaur rocket.

The sun protects us from cosmic rays and dust from beyond the solar system by enveloping us in the heliosphere – a bubble of solar wind that extends past Pluto. These cosmic rays would damage the ozone layer,

Voyager 2 crossed the heliopause on November 5, 2018. The Voyagers were expected to remain operable through 2020.

Part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System, Voyager 1 launched 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2.

Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have reached "Interstellar space" and each continue their unique journey through the Universe.

Each craft carried a greeting to any form of extraterrestrial intelligence that might eventually find it.