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Robert Walker
No, not at present. We couldn't detect Voyager even if it flew between the Moon and the Earth at present with its radio switched off. And they are not headed towards any solar system for at least hundreds of thousands of years. Misses known stars along their route by light years. Since we can't detect it even half a light second away, no way we could detect it over a light year away.

Voyager 1
Voyager 2 - future of the probe

Of course it would have stopped transmitting long since. We probably won't be able to continue to pick it up from Earth by radio beyond some time in the mid to late 2020s.  You would need an awesome level of technology to detect it in interstellar space.

The golden disk is largely symbolic. But in space, it should last for millions of years. Maybe some time in the distant future it will pass close enough to some solar system that someone notices it somewhere? That assumes that there are many intelligent species in our galaxy with space flight capability or species that are widely spread over many stars, even then it would be quite a coincidence. Unless they have some really awesome future tech to detect these things.

About the Author

Robert Walker

Robert Walker

Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.
Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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