Voyager 1 will be one light-day from Earth on 18 November: what that means
NASA's most distant spacecraft is about to sit so far away that a radio signal takes a full day to reach it, weeks after a brief loss of contact and a power-saving overhaul.
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On 18 November 2026, NASA's Voyager 1 is due to be one light-day from Earth: 25.89 billion km (16.09 billion miles) away, the distance light travels in 24 hours. No other spacecraft has travelled so far. The milestone was confirmed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in a release on 29 October.
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The story so far. More on Space and Voyager.
- NASA's Swift observatory falls to Earth after failed rescue attempt The gamma-ray observatory re-entered over northern Sumatra on 4 November, almost 22 years after launch, after a commercial mission to raise its orbit was called off.
- NASA asks industry how it could boost, upgrade or safely retire Hubble With the telescope expected to fall back into the atmosphere in 2033 or 2034, NASA issued a request for information on 29 October. Responses are due on 30 November.
- ESA's Hera probe sees the asteroid DART struck as a separate object for the first time Europe's planetary-defence spacecraft resolved Didymos and its small moon Dimorphos from about 1,280 km away, and ESA plans to release the first detailed images of Dimorphos on 25 November.
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