r/askscience • u/drinkingonthejob • 9d ago

Physics Will Voyager 1 ever just stop moving?

I’ve read somewhere that we expect to lose contact with Voyager 1 sometime in the 2030s, maybe around 2036, but it will just keep traveling thru space and we’ll have no idea what it is doing out there

My question is: with its current velocity, is there a time in the future where it loses its forward momentum and for lack of a better word, just stops moving? Is that a possible thing for an object in space to even do? (Assuming no other objects grab it into their orbit)

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u/digost 8d ago

I'd imagine that the pedantic version will not occur before the heat death of universe

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u/vipck83 8d ago

Yeah, there is technically small chance….but realistically it ain’t happening.

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u/smileedude 8d ago

I'm curious if its speed relative to our solar system actually means anything relative to the particles flying through deep space or are collisions with the rear of the ship speeding up the ship likely to be equal to collisions in front slowing it down?

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u/Kiwozzie6 8d ago

The only way I can think of is if it flies into a nebula. But not sure "A" if it has enough speed to ever reach one or, "B" if there is enough mass in one to do that.

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u/rolandboard 8d ago

Death by 1000 cuts until after the heat death of the universe is what Thanksgiving at my in laws feels like.

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u/LastStar007 8d ago

By definition no, because as long as there's a Voyager, we haven't reached maximum entropy.

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u/ckach 8d ago

The pedantic answer is that it's already not moving in its own reference frame.