• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Experts predict when we’ll see a reply from NASA’s Voyager space probe

Home> Technology> Space

Published 15:00 24 Dec 2023 GMT

Experts predict when we’ll see a reply from NASA’s Voyager space probe

The spacecraft has been travelling for decades and sending out signals, so when can we expect a reply?

Kit Roberts

Kit Roberts

Launched in 1977, NASA's Voyager recently logged in some 45 years in space.

That's a long time to be drifting through the solar system. And all the time the probe has been gathering data about space.

Indeed, the Voyager has travelled farther than any other device made by humans.

In 2012 Voyager left the solar system entirely and is now travelling through interstellar space.

Advert

During that time Voyager has been communicating constantly with Earth, sending back data about the universe and solar system.

But it is also directing some signals outwards deeper into space, where they might be picked up on by an alien civilisation.

In 2023, a team looked at how far into the galaxy the signals have reached and when they might reach a system capable of supporting life.

Voyager 1 left the solar system in 2012.
NASA/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Advert

And according to the study, which was published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the earliest that we might expect a reply is by 2029.

A study published by the team said: "These transmissions have encountered and will encounter other stars, introducing the possibility that intelligent life in other solar systems will encounter our terrestrial transmissions.

"By determining which stars Voyager 1’s transmissions will encounter, we identify places where possible intelligent extraterrestrial life would encounter terrestrial transmissions and potentially return transmissions toward the Earth".

But it's not a transmission from either Voyager 1 or Voyager 2, but pioneer whose signals have already reached a star.

Advert

If there happens to be an intelligent civilisation living around the planet then they may be able to reply to our signals.

An alien civilisation replying is the theme of the Carl Sagan movie Contact, where a TV broadcast of the 1936 Olympic Games, yes those Olympics, is sent out into space by accident.

But there won't be a problem with that.

A photo of Jupiter taken by Voyager.
Oxford Science Archive/Print Collector/Getty Images

Advert

Senior SETI astronomer Seth Shostak told RealClearScience: "This wasn't the first broadcast, of course. But it was at a high frequency that might make it through the ionosphere.

"However, it would have been very low power, and with a non-directional antenna. The idea that aliens might pick it up is pretty far-fetched."

Needless to say, the signals sent by NASA are far stronger.

Concluding the study, the NASA team says: "We are confident that the surrounding planets of the encountered stars will also encounter the spacecrafts’ transmissions.

Advert

"As the beam travels farther to other stars, this radius will only grow, showing that we can assume that all of the planets orbiting each star will also encounter the spacecrafts’ transmissions."

Featured Image Credit: Juan Bautista Ruiz/Getty Images

Topics: News, Space, NASA, US News

Kit Roberts
Kit Roberts

Kit joined UNILAD in 2023 as a community journalist. They have previously worked for StokeonTrentLive, the Daily Mirror, and the Daily Star.

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • NASA’s $20,000,000 spaceship has malfunctioned and is out of control hurtling through space
  • Experts predict 5 items that you should wait to buy until after Trump’s tariffs take effect on August 1
  • NASA announces plan for how and when astronauts stuck in space will be rescued
  • Wife of 'stranded' NASA astronaut reveals major health issue he's struggling with since return from space after nine months

Choose your content:

9 hours ago
a day ago
2 days ago
  • 9 hours ago

    Scientists have discovered a mysterious tiny world in our solar system

    The cosmic 'fossil' has been found at the edge of the solar system

    Technology
  • 9 hours ago

    How Felix Baumgartner stunned the world as he broke sound barrier jumping to Earth at 850mph

    The daredevil captivated millions with his record-breaking jump in 2012

    Technology
  • a day ago

    NASA's James Webb telescope captures earliest stage of planet formation that we've never seen before

    The formation of a 'baby' star some 1,300 light-years away was captured for the first time ever

    Technology
  • 2 days ago

    ISS astronaut reveals how they give haircuts in space and it's blown our mind

    Haircut while hurtling through space at 17,500 mph, anyone?

    Technology