From 15 Billion Miles, a 23-Watt Signal Takes 23 Hours
The Voyager 1 probe is the most distant human-made object. Its transmitter draws around 23 watts, and a one-way signal takes more than 23 hours to reach Earth.
As of March 2026, Voyager 1 was 172.59 astronomical units from Earth. It is the most distant human-made object. The spacecraft is more than 15 billion miles from Earth.
A one-way signal from the probe takes more than 23 hours to arrive. A sequence of commands sent to the spacecraft also takes 23 hours to reach it.
The transmitter draws around 23 watts at its higher power setting. To conserve power, mission operators run the transmitter at a lower setting and have shut down other instruments.
The probe's power source generated about 470 watts at launch in 1977. In recent years, output has been reported at around 220 watts. This is 47 percent of the original figure. One small motor on an instrument was left on, using 0.5 watts.
Sources: NASA, SpaceDaily.