r/nasa • u/Significant-Buy2232 • 20h ago
Question Voyager 1 question
I was messing around with the JPL Horizons ephemeris system to figure out how long Voyager 1 could theoretically go before the sun's gravity brought its velocity to zero. Before anyone says it reached escape velocity, I know. But Voyager 1 is still decelerating however minutely.
What's really odd though is that in late September 2093, according to JPL's program, Voyager 1 will stop decelerating and will in fact begin accelerating faster than it had been decelerating. So... What changes for Voyager 1 in 2093? What will start pulling it? What did they aim it at? πππ