But Bailer-Jones and Farnocchia predicted other future flybys in which the spacecraft will get remarkably close to stars outside our solar system. These distant encounters might not generate excitement. Voyager 2 and Pioneer 11's next close encounters will also be with Proxima Centauri, while Pioneer 10's next flyby will be with the star Ross 248, a small star 10.3 light-years from Earth in the constellation Andromeda. Though these craft can no longer transmit signals to Earth, researchers have figured out which stars the vehicles will pass long after they cease to be operational.Ī visualization of NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft leaving the solar system. In fact, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 sent their last transmissions in 20, respectively. However, if they continue on, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 and NASA's New Horizons craft are all expected to leave the sun's sphere of influence, called the heliosphere, and continue exploring through the interstellar medium.Įventually, these spacecraft will run out of power and "die" their science equipment will stop working, and they will stop communicating. So far, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have broken through that barrier. These spacecraft, in addition to NASA's New Horizons probe, are the only spacecraft ever launched that are capable of reaching interstellar space. And in 1977, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft launched, with Voyager 1 following behind a few weeks later. About a year later, Pioneer 11 took flight. On March 2, 1972, NASA launched its Pioneer 10 spacecraft, which would become the first craft to travel through the asteroid belt.
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