41 years after its launch, the Voyager 2 has just managed to reach interstellar space. NASA just reported that the Voyager 2 had managed to leave the heliosphere sometime today. This achievement comes six years after its brother, the Voyager 1, managed to break through the heliosphere.
After 41 years in outer space, the Voyager 2 has quite a bit of mileage to it. So far, it has visited 4 planets (Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, and Jupiter), and has traveled more than 18.5 billion miles.
Making this even more impressive is that the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were originally designed to only last 5 years. No on knows how exactly they’ve lasted as long as they have, but both have gone a long ways towards furthering our understanding of the galaxy. And now that both probes are interstellar space, we will be able to increase our knowledge of this particular part of the universe as well.
Both probes are still a ways off from leaving the known solar system, but given the work horses that they are, it’s probably more than possible for them to reach that milestone sometime in the future. NASA is still in contact with both probes, and await their progress in earnest.
