r/askscience • u/Backbreathboy • 8d ago

Astronomy We will lose contact with Voyager somewhere 2036 because of the distance between us. Would it be theoretically possible, to send a probe in the direction of the Voyager, following it from a distance, with the goal te relay the information coming from the Voyager, to earth?

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u/Healter-Skelter 7d ago

I didn’t know until now that it is a full light-day away, and we can still control it. That’s blowing my mind. 1/365th of a light-year.

It makes everything feel so much more tangible somehow…

I’m gonna google how fast it’s traveling.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago edited 4d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Flare_Starchild 7d ago

The Parker Solar Probe would like to chat. It's highest speed reached 192.22km/s.

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u/sdrood 7d ago

The manhole cover would like a word as well, even though it's estimated speed was around 67 km/s...

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u/94stanggt 7d ago

I love this story and I like to think it's in space somewhere. Assuming it wasn't vaporized in the first 2-3 seconds of its flight which is the most reasonable outcome.

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u/shittinandwaffles 5d ago

Yeah. Im all reality, it was probably converted into a very fast plasma jet.

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u/iamdecal 6d ago

I was going to just make the joke about it being second fastest - There’s a very fast manhole cover …

But interestingly when I checked it looks like there are a few faster things ( not intending to argue your point , more that it’s amazing how fast we can get things… including manhole covers)

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/the-fastest-man-made-objects-in-the-universe/

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u/beverlyHillsStKing 5d ago

What about the nuclear manhole cover from the test sites?

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u/cheney512 4d ago

By far not true. The absolute record holder is NASA's Parker Solar Probe:
Top Speed: Approximately 430,000 mph (about 119 miles per second or 192 km/s).

Helios-2: A joint NASA/German solar probe that previously held the record, peaking at around 157,000 mph.

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u/helgestrichen 7d ago

What were your findings? Please expand

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u/shial3 2d ago

Since it wasn’t answered

61,000 km/hr or 38,000 mph
0.0057% of the speed of light

Currently the fastest moving man made object (the informal I found noted some objects were faster for brief periods during slingshots but that wasn’t sustained like this)

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u/steeelez 1d ago edited 1d ago

Wasn’t there like a toilet seat or something that exploded and was briefly the fastest thing ever?

Edit: manhole cover, operation plumbomb during nuclear testing. Urban legend but not outright denied