Scientists called the Voyager a milestone and a beginning of a new journey when the first man-made object left the solar system in 2012.
Today, two researchers are working on the spacecraft are about to design a new test to finally show whether Voyager 1 has reached the interstellar space or not.
The test will find out if the spacecraft is inside the heliosphere or outside of it. It will determine the magnetic fields and the solar particle bubble which the sun generates around itself. The scientists believe that Voyager 1 will traverse out of its current heliosphere layer in the next year or two. They believe that it will cross the sprawling surface in the heliosphere where the sun's magnetic field changes its polarity from plus to minus. If it indeed does, the astrophysicists believe the magnetic field will reverse around the spacecraft. This reversal will show that the spacecraft remains inside the heliosphere. However if it does not occur in two years, the researchers are confident that Voyager 1 has made it into interstellar space.
The spacecraft was launched to explore Jupiter and Saturn in 1977 and it could have left the solar system to make its journey into deep space but it still needs to be confirmed. 2003 reports said that the spacecraft had left but in 2010 and 2012, reports said it was still preparing to leave. In 2013, reports said that while Voyager had certainly departed, it had not left the solar system yet. It departed the heliosphere where the solar wind stream's charged particles stream outward freely from the sub, slam into interstellar space particle clouds and create a shock wave called heliopause.
Researchers recently measured data that appears to boost the belief that the spacecraft had reached interstellar space. The data from a solar eruption which shook particles surrounding the spacecraft found that the probe's surrounding density was a lot higher than its earlier measurements while it was believed to be in the heliosphere.
"The proof is in the pudding," lead author George Gloeckler from the University of Michigan said. "This controversy will continue until it is resolved by measurements."
