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On September 5, 1977, the Voyager 1 space probe was launched by NASA rockets and began a long exploration journey, which has been in space for 41 years, making it the farthest space probe in human history, with a total distance of 21.1 billion kilometers from the sun.
As the farthest probe in human history, the Voyager 1 has truly pioneered a series of human precedents in the field of space.
Voyager 1 is like the "messenger" of the earth, carrying important information about the earth and flying to the depths of the universe, which is also the desire of human beings for life in the universe, which makes Voyager 1 extremely important.
If Voyager 1 encounters aliens during its exploration, how many years will it take to reach these alien planets?
1. The exploration journey of Voyager 1.
On September 5, 1977, at the Changhe Launch Center, NASA rockets were launched, and the space probe Voyager 1 officially departed.
Voyager 1 was the first to take this historic step, but to date it is the farthest space probe, and each flight has contributed to the cause of space exploration in human history.
Thirty years ago, in order to better understand outer space, at the end of the 1960s, American humans took the first step of human beings and landed Apollo 11 on the moon with American astronauts.
Subsequently, human beings in the United States rapidly carried out the exploration of outer space, marched into the vast universe, and constantly provided impetus for human exploration.
However, these detection objects are the nearest planets and moons and other celestial bodies in the universe, and they have always been close detection, and American human beings have not stopped exploring the universe, and have begun to explore space farther away.
So in 1973, the U.S. human space exploration program for further afield was officially launched, and according to NASA's plan, their exploration program would be divided into two launches.
The first launch was Voyager 1 and the second was Voyager 2, and both space probes will carry information about Earth.
The orbits of the two space probes will go out of the Earth-Moon orbit and into the outer regions of the solar system.
In other words, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 will embark on a long exploration journey, and they will also be the farthest probes in human history.
Voyager 1's first mission was to fly to Jupiter and Saturn, reaching Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980, providing humanity with high-definition images of Jupiter, Saturn, and its moons for the first time.
At the same time, important scientific data such as the atmospheric structure and magnetic field of these two planets and their moons were detected, and it made a significant contribution to the exploration of Venus by mankind.
In 1980, Voyager 1 officially left Saturn and flew farther out of the solar system, and in 2012, Voyager 1 officially flew out of the constellation Quadrant.
After years of constant flight, escaping the gravitational pull of the solar system, Voyager 1 is now officially flying into the interstellar medium, heading deep into the universe.
In 2004, Voyager 1 experienced a large increase in protons for a short period of time, and NASA predicted in advance that two Voyager probes had left the radius of the solar system and entered space.
Voyager 1 is expected to fly completely out of the edge of the solar system and into the wider interstellar medium in 2020, less than two years from today.
Now, Voyager 1 will feed back important data and flight status back to Earth every year for researchers to study, and this transmission process will continue until 2050, which means that humans will get more valuable information from the Voyager 1 probe.
2. How Voyager 1 became the "messenger" of the earth.
"We're going to fly deep into space, hoping to make some contact with aliens."
This is a quote from Carl Sagan, the head of NASA's Voyager probe program, that in order to make Voyager, the "Earth's messenger", have some contact with aliens, NASA has made Voyager 1 a cultural messenger of Earth before the flight.
He carried a gold-plated disc with him, which was gilded on the surface of the record, and not only that, but also a diamond was hidden inside the record, which was used as a gramophone needle for capturing overseas surviving objects.
The record indicates the location of the Earth and the information of the probe, containing the information of the Earth and music in multiple languages, hoping that the aliens will be able to get in touch with human civilization through the record on the Voyager Probe.
NASA deposited the final music content on a record from music collected from all over the world, but the diameter of this record is only 30 centimeters, and it is made of brass pressed molds, which is relatively fragile, so a plastic plate is specially used to protect the periphery of the record from problems during travel.
Later, the outer plastic plate of the record was reinforced with a metal box made of gold and aluminum, so that the record could reach a given position safely during the journey, and the record could withstand small collisions such as falls on the road.
Each side of the record can hold 2 hours of audio content, and in the end, in order to save space, NASA ended up storing only 90 minutes of music content on the record, and these 90 minutes of music content stored a total of 27 different pieces of music from all over the world.
In addition, the record also preserves some sound effects from different regions and cultures, such as the cheers made by people when they play with children or celebrate festivals, and most importantly, each sound and music is explained in a different language, so that aliens can understand the culture of human beings on Earth as soon as possible, and this record becomes a "Traveler's Disc".
On November 16, 1977, Voyager 1 left Earth orbit, and on December 15, 1977, Voyager 2 also left Earth orbit, officially beginning its exploration of outer space in the solar system.
The two Voyager probes flew in different orbits, with Voyager 2 leaving Earth orbit 41 weeks later than Voyager 1, but leaving the solar system faster than Voyager 1 due to different flight paths.
According to NASA, Voyager 1 has a speed of 17.043 kilometers per second, which is faster than the third cosmic velocity, which is also the fastest space probe to fly in human history.
So far, in the long history of more than 40 years, Voyager 1 has flown a new solar system, leaving behind it, leaving only helium that is constantly flying, and its flight orbit has passed by Jupiter, Saturn and other planets, leaving the distance of the solar system, getting closer and closer.
The closest neighbor to the solar system, Proxima Centauri, Voyager 1 would take about 74,000 years to fly to Proxima Centauri from now.
3. How to encounter aliens will take 70,000 years.
So what would happen if Voyager 1 really encountered aliens during its exploration?
First of all, as the farthest space probe to take the first step in human history, Voyager 1 was designed to make contact with aliens, and it would be exciting to meet them during the flight.
Humanity has never had contact with extraterrestrials before, so humanity will become excited and excited, and at the same time, it will allow people to have a deeper understanding of extraterrestrial life.
However, the speed at which Voyager 1 left the solar system has exceeded the range of a solar system, and it is just a "passerby" of flight, just like a collision in the universe, only the probability of a relative collision is very low, so the probability of aliens capturing Voyager 1 is very small.
Compared with the stars, the alien world may be completely different from our current living environment, so the Aifan phonograph is to reflect the living environment of our human beings and the scope of the planet in which they live, and help aliens understand the origin of the earth's civilization.
The time scale and space in the universe are huge, and in order to find extraterrestrial life, we humans need to explore outer space for a longer time, and the exploration of Voyager 1 is only the first step in space exploration, which has played a pioneering role for us human beings.
With the continuous scientific and technological progress in the future, human beings will develop more advanced space probes, which can have a deeper understanding of extraterrestrial life and even get in touch with extraterrestrial life, which still requires our continuous efforts.
epilogue
Voyager 1 is the first step, but it is not the only step, we need to continue to work hard to finally find extraterrestrial life, and it is this continuous effort and courage that leads people to explore and hope for the unknown world.