No. The Voyager missions were designed to take advantage of a planetary alignment that allowed a "Grand Tour". It is a six year window that happens about once every 175 years. The next one begins in 2153.
Apparently, Voyager 3 was cannibalized during construction: I am currently reading the book Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds In The Third Great Age Of Discovery by Stephen J. Pyne. On the second chapter, it is listed that there were three Voyager spacecraft.
NASA is keeping Voyager 2 going until at least 2026 by tapping into backup power Engineers have bought the spacecraft's interstellar mission more time by using backup power from a safety mechanism. It means NASA no longer has to shut down one of its five scientific instruments.
Eventually, there will not be enough electricity to power even one instrument. Then, Voyager 2 will silently continue its eternal journey among the stars.
In August 2012, Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to cross into interstellar space. However, if we define our solar system as the Sun and everything that primarily orbits the Sun, Voyager 1 will remain within the confines of the solar system until it emerges from the Oort cloud in another 14,000 to 28,000 years.
Voyager 2 would never take pictures again. Since it wouldn't come across another planet on its ongoing journey, NASA switched off its cameras after its flyby of Neptune to conserve energy for other instruments.
A Once-in-a-Lifetime Alignment
Calculations reveal it is possible for a spacecraft launched in the late 1970s to visit all four giant outer planets, using the gravity of each planet to swing the spacecraft on to the next. This alignment occurs once every 176 years.
But it will take about 300 years for Voyager 1 to reach the inner edge of the Oort Cloud and possibly about 30,000 years to fly beyond it. Voyager 2 has not yet reached interstellar space or exited the heliosphere (bubble of solar plasma). Pioneer 10 and 11 are no longer transmitting science data back to Earth.
Parting Shot. After taking the images for “The Family Portrait” at 05:22 GMT on Feb. 14, 1990, Voyager 1 powered down its cameras forever.
They are both headed outward, never to return to Earth. So, can they get closer? The answer is that for a few months each year, Earth in its orbit moves toward the spacecraft faster than they're moving away. Earth's motion around the sun is faster than the motion of the Voyager spacecraft.
5. The original life expectancy of both spacecraft was five years. Within that time, both had encountered Jupiter and Saturn, returning stunning findings of active volcanoes and lightning beyond Earth, new moons around Jupiter and Saturn, a thick atmosphere on the moon Titan, and more.
Voyager 1 has avoided significant damage by space debris because space is very empty and space is very, very big, so there's generally nothing in its path to hit except for a few stray solar wind ions.
Because we're still in communication with Voyager 1, we know the antenna is still pointing toward us, regardless of the strange nature of the telemetry data readings.
Voyager 2 remains in contact with Earth through the NASA Deep Space Network.
Scientists and engineers have had to make choices as far as which instruments to keep running in order to make sure Voyager continues to send data. When the fuel runs out and the systems turn off, the probes will wander space indefinitely until - and if - they are found.
Voyager 1 has reached a distance of 23.381 billion km (14.528 billion mi; 156.29 AU) from Earth and 23.483 billion km (14.592 billion mi; 156.97 AU) from the Sun.
UPDATE 8/31: NASA engineers discovered that the probe's attitude articulation and control system (AACS) had switched to sending its telemetry data through an onboard computer that hadn't worked for years(Opens in a new window), causing it to become corrupted.
The golden records are designed to keep their data intact for a billion years — longer than humanity will likely exist.
Its proximity to the black hole also causes an extreme time dilation, where one hour on the distant planet equals 7 years on Earth.
No. The time-dilation effect of Einstein's relativity has nothing to do with space.
ESA plans to conduct an orbital test flight of the Space Rider uncrewed spaceplane towards the end of the year. Japan plans to launch the Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) spacecraft to collect and bring back samples from one of the moons of Mars, Phobos. The maiden flight of Blue Origin's New Glenn is planned for 2024.
It's not just a cloudy day somewhere here on Earth. For Hubble, it's always a cloudy day along the paths of the Voyagers 1 and 2. Mind you, Hubble can't see the car-sized probes that far out. But Hubble has actively been working with the Voyager probes to measure and define interstellar space.
Voyager 1 Becomes First Man-Made Object to Leave Solar System; Probe Still Powered by GE Technology. A new research paper published today in the journal Science concluded that the Voyager 1 spacecraft became the first man-made object to leave the solar system and enter interstellar space.
Taken at 4:48 GMT on Feb. 14, 1990, “Pale Blue Dot” and other images that made-up the “Family Portrait” collection were the last thing Voyager 1's cameras ever did.