Travel will reach this region in 300 years (and will take 30,000 years to cross it)

Since 1977. Furthermore, the Voyager 1 probe has continued its silent odyssey to the borders of our solar system. Nevertheless, But her true challenge is still awaiting him: in three centuries. Similarly, she will enter a mysterious region whose very existence divides the scientific community. Nevertheless, This titanic crossing will spread over 30 millennia, traveling the first human messenger to explore the last border of solar influence.

A trip that has only just started – Travel will reach this region

Currently located at 167 astronomical units of the earth. Nevertheless, more than 25 billion kilometers, travel 1 line through the interstellar space at 61,000 kilometers per hour. For example, This dizzying speed. however, masks the reality of cosmic distances: it is now more than 23 hours at land signals to reach the probe.

Although the official mission ended in the 2030s travel will reach this region for lack of fuel, Voyager’s adventure is just starting. However, Its trajectory inexorably leads it to the oort cloud. In addition, this enigmatic belt of icy objects which would mark the gravitational limits of our solar system.

The mystery of the Oort cloud – Travel will reach this region

Theorized in 1950 by the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort. Meanwhile, this cosmic tank remains one of the largest puzzles in our stellar neighborhood. No direct observation has never confirmed its existence, yet the clues accumulate. The long -term comets. these occasional visitors who only appear once per millennium, would seem to come from this distant region.

This hypothetical spherical envelope would extend between 2,000 and 100,000 astronomical units of the sun. To put these figures in perspective, Pluto orbit at only 40 astronomical units of our star. The Oort cloud would therefore represent a territory with properly unimaginable dimensions. where the travel will reach this region gravitational influence of the sun is weakening until it becomes negligible.

A journey of thirty millennia

The NASA calculations reveal the amazing magnitude of the challenge that awaits travel. In approximately 300 years, the probe will cross the interior border of this ghost region. Then will begin a crossing of a duration which challenges human understanding: 30,000 years to browse the entire cloud.

This temporal perspective crushes any historical reference. When traveling will finally emerge on the other side. humanity will have potentially experienced the equivalent of its entire civilized history since the invention of agriculture. The current empires will only be dust. the continents will have derived, and our species itself may have evolved in an unrecognizable way.

A messenger for eternity

Fortunately. traveling transports a gift for future eons: gold -plated copper discs offering carefully selected samples of human culture: music, images, greetings in 55 languages, and even the beats of a human heart.

A 2020 study evaluated the chances of survival of these cosmic testimonies. According to researchers. after five billion years of interstellar travel, traveling 1 would still have a 99% chance of preserving the internal side of its discs, protected from erosion by interstellar matter.

Beyond our solar system

In 40. 000 years, when traveling is travel will reach this region approaching the AC +79 3888 star, it will have become closer to this distant star than to our own sun. At that time, she officially left the gravitational grip of our system to become an authentic galactic vagabond.

This vertiginous perspective puts our usual temporal scales into perspective. The fiftieth anniversary of the mission. scheduled for 2027, suddenly appears derisory in the face of the cosmic epic that awaits our silent ambassador. Traveling reminds us that spatial exploration is not measured in years. but in millennia, even in eons, defying our most fundamental concepts of time and space.