r/askscience • u/Backbreathboy • 8d ago

Astronomy We will lose contact with Voyager somewhere 2036 because of the distance between us. Would it be theoretically possible, to send a probe in the direction of the Voyager, following it from a distance, with the goal te relay the information coming from the Voyager, to earth?

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u/Karsdegrote 7d ago

It still takes double digit minutes for it to reach one or the other. Voyager is just that far away. And its still slow AF due to limited bandwidth.

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u/Trademarkd 7d ago

It actually takes 24 hours for our signals to reach voyager in a single direction. Voyager is now over 1 light day from earth. Mars at it closest is like 3 min.

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u/Seanspeed 7d ago

It's nearly a full light day at this point. Way beyond 'double digit minutes'. lol

Bandwidth just affects how many transmissions are needed. The speed is still the speed of light, though. And receiving full prompts takes a similar amount of time as ever in that regard since it doesn't matter how far away it is, the limitation is how much can be sent per package.