Voyager's Last Years at the Edge of Interstellar Space

On 18 November 2026, Voyager 1 will be one light-day from Earth: a command takes a full day to get there, and the answer takes another day to come back. It launched in 1977 and was built to last five years. This is the story of both Voyagers: the rare lineup of planets that made the trip possible, the volcano on Io, the Titan decision, Voyager 2's lone visits to Uranus and Neptune, the Pale Blue Dot, the crossings into interstellar space, the 2024 rescue of Voyager 1's computer, the instruments being switched off one by one to save power, and the Golden Record. Diagrams and illustrations are labeled on screen and are not to scale. Stock footage is labeled "(stock footage)", and shots that aren't of Voyager are marked as dramatic or illustrative. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold Open: One Light-Day 1:59 A Lineup Every 175 Years 4:14 Jupiter and the Volcanoes of Io 6:30 Saturn and the Titan Decision 8:28 Voyager 2 Alone: Uranus and Neptune 10:58 The Pale Blue Dot 12:42 Leaving the Sun's Bubble 15:45 A Glitch 24 Billion Kilometers Away 18:53 Turning Off the Lights, One by One 22:12 The Golden Record and the Long Goodbye SOURCES NASA Science: What Is a Light-Day: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voya... NASA Science: Where Are Voyager 1 and 2 Now: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voya... JPL news 12 Sep 2013: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-sp... JPL news 10 Dec 2018: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-v... JPL news 4 Nov 2019: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/voyager... NASA Science: Voyager 1: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voya... NASA Science: Voyager 2: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voya... NASA Science: Planetary Voyage: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voya... NASA Photojournal PIA00379: https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal... Morabito 2012 arXiv:1211.2554: https://arxiv.org/abs/1211.2554 NASA Science: Voyager 1's Pale Blue Dot: https://science.nasa.gov/resource/voy... JPL: Pale Blue Dot Revisited (2020): https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/pale-bl... JPL news 22 Apr 2024: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-v... NASA Voyager blog 15 Mar 2024: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyage... NASA Voyager blog 4 Apr 2024: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyage... NASA Voyager blog 13 Jun 2024: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyage... NASA Voyager blog 17 Apr 2026: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyage... NASA Voyager blog 4 Aug 2026: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/voyage... Scientific American Aug 2026: https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar... CNN 6 Aug 2026: https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/06/scienc... JPL news May 2025: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-v... JPL news 1 Oct 2024: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-tu... NASA Science: Golden Record Contents: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voya... JPL news Aug 2023: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-mi... NASA Science: Golden Record overview: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voya... Peale, S.J., Cassen, P. & Reynolds, R.T. (1979). Melting of Io by tidal dissipation. Science 203, 892–894. doi:10.1126/science.203.4383.892 FOOTAGE & IMAGES Spacecraft, planetary and Deep Space Network images and the 2024 team video: NASA/JPL-Caltech (public domain). Wikimedia Commons: NASA/JPL images (public domain). NASA doesn't endorse this video. Stock footage and music: Storyblocks (licensed). #Voyager #NASA #Space