The lonely fate of humanity's furthest messengers in deep space
In short: Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 and 2 have far outlived their original missions. This video explores their current journey into the unknown as they drift toward the Oort Cloud.
The probes are currently traversing interstellar space, with Voyager 1 situated over 15.5 billion miles from Earth and Voyager 2 at nearly 13 billion miles away. While they were originally designed to study the outer planets, they are now destined to encounter the enigmatic Oort Cloud.
Despite the vastness of space, their trajectories remain subject to the gravitational pull of passing stars. However, because they have already cleared our solar system's planets, the probability of a collision with a planet or star in the distant future is considered extraordinarily low.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Will The Voyager Probes Survive a Crash Into The Oort Cloud?
- Also: Last Word: What is the probability that Voyager 1 or 2 will hit a planet or star? | New Scientist
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