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Answer: The twin Voyager probes launched in 1977 to fly by the outer planets. Voyager 1 crossed into interstellar space in August 2012, the first human-made object to do so, and both craft now chart the edge of the Sun's influence.

The grand tour

After the first in-depth reconnaissance of the outer planets, the Voyagers began the Voyager Interstellar Mission on January 1, 1990. Voyager 1 launched on September 5, 1977.

Discoveries by Voyager 1

• A thin ring around Jupiter and two new moons, Thebe and Metis.
• Five new moons at Saturn and a new ring, the G-ring.

Leaving the heliosphere

The heliosphere is the bubble of particles and magnetic fields from the Sun. Voyager 1 was the first spacecraft to cross its boundary, the heliopause. No spacecraft has gone farther.

Keeping them alive

Both are powered by radioisotope generators whose output declines, so engineers switch off instruments to save power and extend the missions.

Claims

• id: C1 claim: The Voyagers are on a new mission to chart the edge of interstellar space. source: S1 evidence: "the twin Voyagers are on a new mission to chart the edge of interstellar space"
• id: C2 claim: Voyager 1 is the first human-made object in interstellar space. source: S2 evidence: "Voyager 1 is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space."
• id: C3 claim: Voyager 1 found five new moons and the G-ring at Saturn. source: S2 evidence: "At Saturn, Voyager 1 found five new moons and a new ring called the G-ring."
• id: C4 claim: Voyager 1 discovered Thebe and Metis. source: S2 evidence: "Voyager 1 discovered a thin ring around Jupiter and two new Jovian moons: Thebe and"

Sources

• [S1] Voyager. NASA. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/ . License: US government work, public domain. Accessed 2026-11-04.
• [S2] Voyager 1: The Farthest Spacecraft — NASA Science. NASA. https://science.nasa.gov/mission/voyager/voyager-1/ . License: US government work, public domain. Accessed 2026-11-04.

License: this note is CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted).

@misc{iil_note_chfyjefv,
  author = {{iinventedlight}},
  title = {{The Voyager missions: into interstellar space}},
  howpublished = {iinventedlight Library},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-11-04},
  url = {https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/voyager-missions/},
  note = {Permanent ID iil:note:chfyjefv. License: CC-BY-4.0.},
}

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