They are out there. Somewhere in the cold, silent blackness where the Sun is just a particularly bright star, two aging robots are still screaming back at Earth.
If you're wondering where is Voyager 1 and 2 now, the short answer is that they've left the "neighborhood" entirely. Voyager 1 is currently about 15.8 billion miles away from us. Voyager 2 is a bit closer, trailing at roughly 13.2 billion miles.
Think about those numbers. They’re basically meaningless to our human brains. To put it in perspective, if you hopped in a modern commercial jet and flew toward Voyager 1, it would take you about 3,000 years to get there.
The Distance is Getting Personal
As of January 2026, we’ve reached a bit of a surreal milestone. Voyager 1 is actually approaching a distance of one "light-day" from Earth.
Light is the fastest thing in the universe. It crosses the 93 million miles from the Sun to your face in about eight minutes. But Voyager 1 is so far away that when NASA engineers send a command, it takes nearly 24 hours to reach the spacecraft. Then they have to wait another 24 hours to hear if the robot actually did what it was told.
It's like having a conversation with a 48-hour delay between every sentence. Talk about a long-distance relationship.
Why Voyager 1 and 2 Are Still Alive (Mostly)
These things were launched in 1977. Jimmy Carter was President. Star Wars had just hit theaters. The tech inside these probes is, frankly, primitive. Your car key fob probably has more computing power than the Flight Data System (FDS) on Voyager 1.
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Yet, they’re still kicking.
Actually, "kicking" might be too strong a word. They’re more like surviving on life support. Both probes are powered by Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs). These are basically nuclear batteries that turn heat from decaying plutonium-238 into electricity.
The problem? Plutonium decays. It loses about 4 watts of power every year.
The Battle to Keep the Lights On
To keep the mission going, NASA has been forced to act like a grumpy landlord cutting off the heat to save on the electric bill. They’ve turned off the cameras (which is why we don't get new photos). They’ve turned off heaters for instruments that are already borderline frozen.
Right now, Voyager 1 is operating with its Magnetometer and its Plasma Wave Subsystem. Earlier in 2025, NASA had to make the tough call to shut down the Cosmic Ray Subsystem on Voyager 1 to save juice.
Voyager 2 is in a similar boat. In March 2025, engineers shut down its Low-Energy Charged Particle instrument. By later this year—sometime in mid-2026—NASA expects they'll have to shut down the Cosmic Ray Subsystem on Voyager 2 as well.
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It's a weird, slow-motion goodbye. We are watching the instruments die one by one, like candles flickering out in a massive, dark cathedral.
Recent Scares: The 2024/2025 Glitches
If you follow space news, you probably heard that Voyager 1 had a "stroke" recently. In late 2023 and early 2024, it started sending back gibberish—just a repeating pattern of ones and zeros that made no sense.
The team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) eventually figured out that a single chip in the FDS had failed. They couldn't go out there and replace it, obviously. Instead, they spent months rewriting the code to work around the dead chip and beamed it up.
It worked.
Then, just when we thought we were in the clear, the thrusters started acting up. These thrusters are vital; they keep the probe’s antenna pointed exactly at Earth. If it drifts even a fraction of a degree, we lose them forever. In a move that feels like something out of a sci-fi movie, engineers successfully fired up a set of "roll thrusters" that hadn't been used in 20 years to save the mission.
Where They Are Going Next
Neither Voyager is "stopped." They are barreling through interstellar space at roughly 38,000 miles per hour.
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- Voyager 1 is heading toward the constellation Ophiuchus. In about 40,000 years, it will pass within 1.6 light-years of a star called AC +79 3888.
- Voyager 2 is headed south, toward the constellations Pavo and Indus. It’ll pass by the star Ross 248 in about 42,000 years.
They aren't going to hit anything. Space is mostly empty. They will just keep drifting, long after the Earth has changed beyond recognition, carrying those famous Golden Records—our "message in a bottle" to whoever (or whatever) might find them in a billion years.
How to Track Them Yourself
If you want to see exactly where they are this second, NASA has a "Real-Time" tracker. It’s honestly a bit addictive. You can watch the "Distance from Earth" counter tick upward by several miles every second.
The most important thing to remember is that while the science is incredible, the real story is the engineering. These machines were built to last five years. They are currently in year 48.
We likely have another 5 to 10 years of "talk" left in them. By the early 2030s, the power will likely drop below the level needed to run even a single instrument. At that point, the Voyagers will become silent ambassadors.
Actionable Next Steps for Space Fans
If you're fascinated by the Voyagers' journey, here is how you can stay updated and involved:
- Check the JPL Voyager Status Page: NASA updates the exact mileage and instrument status regularly. It's the only place for 100% verified live data.
- Use an App like SkySafari: You can actually "point" your phone at the spot in the sky where Voyager 1 is located. It won't look like anything—it's way too small and dark—but knowing you're looking right at it is a trip.
- Listen to the Golden Record: You can find the audio from the Voyager Golden Records on YouTube or Spotify. Listening to the "Sounds of Earth" while looking at the distance stats makes the whole thing feel much more human.
The Voyagers aren't just pieces of metal. They are the only part of us that has truly left home. We should probably keep listening for as long as they’re still talking.