By Michael Dattolo

Imagine pressing a button and having to wait more than 24 hours to see if it worked. That’s what NASA team members deal with when they send a signal to the most distant man-made object in the universe.

This device has plunged so deep into the far reaches of space, that its command signals from California—traveling at the speed of light—take over 14 hours to reach it! By comparison, that same signal would take only four hours to reach Neptune, the furthest non-dwarf planet in our galaxy. Voyager has traveled at tens of thousands of miles per hour for more than 30 years to reach its current position—over 9 billion miles from the sun.

Voyager 1—launched in 1977—has now rocketed into the region NASA scientists call the “final frontier” of our solar system.

This is just the latest news in a long line of successes for the decades-old spacecraft. Ever since its September 5, 1977, launch, Voyager 1 and its twin space probe, Voyager 2, have sent amazing images back to Earth.

Between them, the two identical probes have explored all the gas planets in our solar system: Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. The Voyager probes revealed exciting new details about Saturn’s rings—discovered 10 moons around Uranus, revealed erupting volcanos on Jupiter’s nearest moon and much more. Each new discovery expanded our understanding of our solar system. What is now common knowledge about those planets used to be shrouded in mystery until the Voyager twins first passed by.

Now, Voyager (NASA model pictured at right) is going where no man-made object has ever gone before.

It is a place so far away, that it approaches what scientists call “interstellar space.” In December of 2004, Voyager 1 crossed the termination shock, where solar wind from the sun slows abruptly—disrupted by pressure from traces of gas from other, distant stars. Never before had a man-made object reached that point. In fact, because astronomers did not know what to expect when Voyager hit termination shock (or where exactly in space it is), it took NASA nearly half a year for scientists to agree that Voyager had, in fact, crossed that threshold.

Originally slated for only a five-year mission, Voyager is still plunging ahead where no spacecraft has gone before—with enough battery life to continue sending signals back to Earth for another decade or more.

Looking for Life

In addition to sending back data to help scientists understand the conditions at edge of our solar system, the twin Voyager probes have another purpose: to carry a message from mankind if they encounter intelligent life.

Each craft carries a gold-plated phonograph, containing greetings in over 50 languages and music from different cultures and eras. In deciding what to put on the records, NASA wanted to convey “the story of our world” to any extraterrestrials who might one day find it.

Will Voyager ever find intelligent life though?

The Bible indicates that the entire the universe is in a state of decay. Romans 8 portrays a universe filled with planets in a dead, lifeless state. Another scripture affirms the uniqueness of Earth: “The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord’s, but the earth hath he given to the children of men” (Psalms 115:16). At this time, Earth alone is the habitation of mankind.

All astronomers and scientific findings indicate what the Bible shows: although the stars produce light and heat, the planets—except for this Earth—are in a state of death and decay.

Yet they will not remain that way forever!

The same verses that state that the whole universe is in a state of decay also explain that the entire creation is waiting for a time when it will be freed from that condition. Romans 8:21 says that the creation “anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay” (New Living Translation). The whole creation is waiting eagerly to be freed from bondage—when?—when God’s children are born into His family! (verse 23).

In other words, the amazing potential here revealed is that you (if you participate in God’s plan for your life) will have the astounding opportunity to visit planets far beyond Voyager’s grasp—and also help create and sustain life on those planets!

New knowledge of God’s far-off creation through fantastic space probes like Voyager 1 is exciting. How much more thrilling, however, is the knowledge that one day we will be able to venture far further—and far faster—than Voyager 1? How much more exciting is the privilege of probing the depths of the mind and purpose of God for this awesome universe we live in!

We have only just scratched the surface of God’s astounding plan for the universe, and your incredible potential in it. For more reading on this subject, read The Incredible Human Potential by Herbert W. Armstrong—especially Chapter 3. To learn more about the Voyager space probes, click here to visit NASA’s official Voyager site.