What Will Happen to Voyager 1 When Its Power Runs Out?

Voyager 1 has run on the heat of decaying plutonium since September 1977, and this long space documentary follows what will happen to Voyager 1 when its power runs out. Its nuclear generators lose about 4 watts every year, so a small team at NASA has spent years deciding which heaters and instruments the most distant spacecraft ever built can live without. On 18 November 2026 it reaches one light-day from Earth, 16.1 billion miles away. From there the film moves forward in time, past the last signal, through the Oort Cloud and on around the galaxy, with the Golden Record still bolted to its side. 0:00 Introduction 1:41 A machine that runs on heat 13:27 Four watts a year 21:19 Repairs from a day away 28:56 Keeping the dish on Earth 36:39 Switching off the instruments 44:43 One light-day from Earth 52:43 The last signal 1:01:17 Going cold 1:09:17 Through the Oort Cloud 1:17:39 The first star to pass 1:25:24 Laps of the galaxy 1:33:55 Five billion years and the record 1:50:23 Our part in it On Sleeping Cosmos you'll find long space documentaries to sleep to, to keep you company while you study, or to close out the day with. Every story is researched with care and told slowly, travelling out among the stars and then gently home. Good for: 🌙 Falling asleep while an old spacecraft drifts on into the dark 📖 Reading or studying while the story of a fading probe plays quietly 🕯️ Unwinding at night with a calm look at deep time Where the facts come from: How Voyager 1's memory was repaired from more than 15 billion miles away, NASA JPL https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-v... Why another Voyager 1 instrument was switched off in April 2026, NASA JPL https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-sh... The date Voyager 1 reaches one light-day from Earth https://earthsky.org/space/voyager-1-... The faint plasma hum Voyager 1 picks up between the stars, Cornell University https://www.as.cornell.edu/news/empti... The stars Voyager 1 will pass in the next million years, a study using Gaia data https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.03503 What is on the Golden Record, NASA https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voya... relaxing science documentary for studying, space documentary to fall asleep to, calm narration to help you unwind at night, what will happen to voyager 1, when will voyager 1 run out of power, how does voyager 1 get its power, which instruments are still on voyager 1, how far away is voyager 1 from earth, voyager 1 one light day from earth, what is on the voyager golden record, will anyone ever find voyager 1, where will voyager 1 be in 40000 years