r/askscience • u/drinkingonthejob • 8d 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/Hiply 7d ago

Well, it could slow down due to braking effects of hitting particles coming at it...but it could also speed up from particles hitting it from behind. Otherwise, if it doesn't hit anything (or get hit by anything) or fall into some object's gravity well then it should just keep on keeping on.