Spacecraft / Exploration

Voyager 1's Signal Takes Over 22 Hours to Reach Us — And It's Still Coming

2026-08-09
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A spacecraft launched before home computers exists is talking to us right now.

Voyager 1 left Earth in 1977 — before home computers, before the internet. It has never stopped moving. Right now it sits over 24 billion kilometres away, deep in interstellar space, beyond the Sun's own bubble of influence, which it crossed in 2012. When it sends a radio signal back towards us, that signal travels at the speed of light and still takes over 22 hours to arrive. We have to wait nearly a full day just to receive its whisper. It runs on a nuclear battery, slowly fading. Aboard it sits the Golden Record — sounds and images of Earth, sealed in gold, drifting through the void on the off-chance something finds it. We built that. In 1977. Follow Deep Field Vault for more of the universe.

LAUNCHED 1977

  • Before home computers
  • Still operational

DISTANCE

  • Over 24 billion km
  • From Earth

SIGNAL DELAY

  • Travelling at light speed
  • Still 22+ hours to arrive

INTERSTELLAR SPACE

  • Crossed the heliopause
  • in 2012

THE GOLDEN RECORD

  • Sounds of Earth
  • Sealed in gold
  • Drifting through the void
Imagery: NASA / NASA/JPL-Caltech (public domain) · View original on NASA ↗
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