In September 1977, NASA sent a bunch of probes into outer space. One of them, Voyager 1, was tasked with escaping from the Solar system.
When launched, Voyager 1 was the fastest man-made object, moving at 15 km per second.
It continues to be the fastest thing we ever created. It is now moving through space at 17 km per second.
For perspective, light travels at 300,000 km per second. Photons making up visible light take 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach our eyes from the moment they depart our Sun.
Not only that, but it is also the farthest human-made object from Earth. It carries the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of humankind. Inside it, a gold-plated audio-visual disc safeguards our legacy. Our genetic background, the life and culture of our planet, photos of our species and other lifeforms, science, language, math, our richness is encased within.
This Golden Record is proof we Lived Here and Now.
Now, 48 years later, Voyager 1 is no longer in our Solar system. It exited the stage of our existence in 2012, when it crossed the heliopause and entered the interstellar medium.
At this moment, this wonder of human ingenuity is almost 25 billion km away from the Earth. To give you some perspective, Voyager 1 is situated at 166 Astronomical Units from Home.
NASA remains in control of the probe, but current estimates predict Voyager 1 will lose power sometime between 2025 and 2036. Telemetry, gyroscopic operations, and thrust backups are out of order and everything onboard is single string. That means when power runs out, inertia will be in the driver’s seat.
Ave atque vale! Hail and farewell, Voyager 1!
Next steps
Voyager 1 will reach the theoretical Oort cloud in cca. 300 years where it will take 30,000 years to pass through it.
BTW, folks, where were we 300 years ago, eh? How about 30,000 years ago?
And where will we be three centuries from now? Will we be here in the Year of Our Lord 32,025?
In about 40,000 years, it will come within 1.6 light-years of the Star Gliese 445, in the constellation Camelopardalis, 17.1 light-years from Earth. To put things into perspective, Voyager 1 is almost 1 light-day away from Earth.
The Cosmos is a beautiful, magnificent place. It is so soul-crushingly big that it makes one yearn or perhaps just wonder how it will be when one returns to its bosom, as star dust.
Voyager 1 is so, so very far away from us that it takes our signals almost a full day to reach it.
And it takes another day for us to find out if it obeyed its masters. If that is not Liberty, I do not know what is. Voyager 1 is not just a probe into the universe. It is a Free Agent Messenger of the Human Race, destined to walk among the stars, and commune with our Maker at its Pace, for eons to come or until Fate decides its Omega.
Voyager 1 is for all intents and purposes a time capsule. And while exposed to the vicissitudes of the cosmos, which are many and mostly unknown, it stands a better chance to make it through Deep Time out there than down here, in our gravity well full of oxidizing agents.
Perhaps it is poetic for Humanity to seek her Cosmic Transubstantiation among the Stars where decay is a distant menace, unlike here on Earth where it’s an ever-present reality.
Life is a voyage. No matter where we go, we always want the same thing. We want to escape death, decay, and in fact the inevitability of our demise.
So, we move and keep on moving just like the sharks, hoping, nay, actively working to postpone the moment of meeting our Maker.
So do not listen to the naysayers telling everyone about their New Year’s resolution to not engage with anyone who uses religion or higher power as an excuse for anything.
Instead listen to your own heart. What does it tell you? Go with instinct. Listen to your body.
Life is journey. Life is a trek. And it is yours to make. Whether you go at 17 cm or 17 km per second, that matters not. What counts is for you to move forward.
Bon Voyage!
Götterdämmerung 