In 2012, Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space. Not surprisingly, it has been traveling for forty years, since it was launched on September 5 like today .
This 722 kg robotic probe continues to operate today, traveling further and further away from us .
Interstellar space
At a current distance of 139 astronomical units from the Sun, it is the furthest spacecraft from Earth and the only one in interstellar space, although it has not yet left the solar system, leaving it a long way to reach the Oort cloud: it will enter in it in about 300 years .
Voyager 1 is currently the furthest human-made object from Earth , traveling at a faster relative speed to Earth and the Sun than any other space probe. It obtains its electrical energy from a thermoelectric generator of radioisotopes, devices that use the heat energy generated by the decay of plutonium-238 and that will last until the year 2025 or 2030.
