News Context: By November 2026, NASA’s Voyager 1 is expected to become the first human-made object to reach a distance of one light-day from Earth—approximately 26 billion kilometers .
The Milestone: One light-day is the distance light travels in a single Earth day. At this range, a radio command sent from Earth takes 24 hours to reach the probe, and its response takes another 24 hours to return, making the "round-trip" communication time a full 48 hours.
- Interstellar Mission: Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 crossed the Heliopause (the boundary of our solar system) in 2012. It is currently traveling through the interstellar medium, studying cosmic rays and magnetic fields.
- Wholistic Insight: This mission demonstrates the limits of deep-space communication. As the probe's plutonium-powered generators (RTGs) continue to decay, NASA must selectively turn off instruments to keep the craft "alive" through the 2030s.
IAS-2026 - OPTIONAL / GEOGRAPHY / PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION / SOCIOLOGY / ANTHROPOLOGY / ORIENTATION ON 03 & 04-10-2025 
