Editing Oort cloud (section)

== Future exploration ==
[[File:Voyager_spacecraft.jpg|thumb|[[Artist's impression]] of the [[Voyager program|''Voyager'' spacecraft]]]]
Space probes have yet to reach the area of the Oort cloud. ''[[Voyager 1]]'', the fastest<ref name="New_Horizons2006">{{cite web |url=http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/081706.php |title=New Horizons Salutes Voyager |date=August 17, 2006 |publisher=New Horizons |access-date=November 3, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141113224847/http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/news_center/news/081706.php |archive-date=November 13, 2014 |quote="Voyager 1 is escaping the solar system at 17 kilometers per second." }}</ref> and farthest<ref name="g.2013sep13">{{cite news |last=Clark |first=Stuart |title=Voyager 1 leaving solar system matches feats of great human explorers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2013/sep/13/voyager-1-solar-system-great-explorers |newspaper=The Guardian |date=September 13, 2013 |access-date=December 15, 2016 |archive-date=June 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624105328/https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2013/sep/13/voyager-1-solar-system-great-explorers |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Voyagers20years.html |title=Voyagers are leaving the Solar System |work=Space Today |date=2011 |access-date=May 29, 2014 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112042631/http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Voyagers20years.html |url-status=live }}</ref> of the interplanetary space probes currently leaving the Solar System, will reach the Oort cloud in about 300 years<ref name="jpl.PIA17046">{{cite web |url=http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA17046 |title=Catalog Page for PIA17046 |work=Photo Journal |publisher=NASA |access-date=April 27, 2014 |archive-date=May 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524132502/https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA17046 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ut.104717">{{cite web |url=http://www.universetoday.com/104717/its-official-voyager-1-is-now-in-interstellar-space/ |title=It's Official: Voyager 1 Is Now In Interstellar Space |work=UniverseToday |date=2013-09-12 |access-date=April 27, 2014 |archive-date=2021-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210113080405/https://www.universetoday.com/104717/its-official-voyager-1-is-now-in-interstellar-space/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and would take about 30,000 years to pass through it.<ref name="Ghose2013">{{cite web |last=Ghose |first=Tia |title=Voyager 1 Really Is In Interstellar Space: How NASA Knows |work=Space.com |publisher=TechMedia Network |date=September 13, 2013 |url=http://www.space.com/22797-voyager-1-interstellar-space-nasa-proof.html |access-date=September 14, 2013 |archive-date=February 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202034615/https://www.space.com/22797-voyager-1-interstellar-space-nasa-proof.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="How_We_Know">{{cite web |last=Cook |first=J.-R |title=How Do We Know When Voyager Reaches Interstellar Space? |publisher=NASA / Jet Propulsion Lab |date=September 12, 2013 |url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-278 |access-date=September 15, 2013 |archive-date=September 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915060510/http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-278 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, around 2025, the [[radioisotope thermoelectric generator]]s on ''Voyager 1'' will no longer supply enough power to operate any of its scientific instruments, preventing any further exploration by ''Voyager 1.'' The [[:Category:Spacecraft escaping the Solar System|other four probes]] currently escaping the Solar System have either already stopped functioning (''Pioneer 10'', ''Pioneer 11'') or are predicted to also stop functioning before they reach the Oort cloud (''Voyager 2'', ''New Horizons'').

In the 1980s, there was a concept for a probe that could reach 1,000 AU in 50 years, called ''[[TAU (spacecraft)|TAU]]''; among its missions would be to look for the Oort cloud.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/T/TAU.html|title=TAU (Thousand Astronomical Unit) mission|first=David|last=Darling|website=www.daviddarling.info|access-date=2015-11-05|archive-date=2017-12-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207013830/http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/T/TAU.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 2014 Announcement of Opportunity for the [[Discovery program]], an observatory to detect the objects in the Oort cloud (and Kuiper belt) called the [[Whipple (spacecraft)|"Whipple Mission"]] was proposed.<ref name="whipple.cfa.harvard.edu">{{cite web |title=The Whipple Mission: Exploring the Oort Cloud and the Kuiper Belt |author1=Charles Alcock |author2=Michael Brown |author3=Tom Gauron |author4=Cate Heneghan |author5=Matthew Holman |author6=Almus Kenter |author7=Ralph Kraft |author8=Roger Lee |author9=John Livingston |author10=James Mcguire |author11=Stephen Murray |author12=Ruth Murray-Clay |author13=Paul Nulsen |author14=Matthew Payne |author15=Hilke Schlichting |author16=Amy Trangsrud |author17=Jan Vrtilek |author18=Michael Werner |display-authors=1 |url=http://whipple.cfa.harvard.edu/inc/documents/Alcock_AGUPoster_2014dec.pdf |access-date=2015-11-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117031224/http://whipple.cfa.harvard.edu/inc/documents/Alcock_AGUPoster_2014dec.pdf |archive-date=2015-11-17 }}</ref> It would monitor distant stars with a photometer, looking for transits up to 10,000 AU away.<ref name="whipple.cfa.harvard.edu" /> The observatory was proposed for halo orbiting around L2 with a suggested 5-year mission.<ref name="whipple.cfa.harvard.edu" /> It was also suggested that the [[Kepler space telescope]] could have been capable of detecting objects in the Oort cloud.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/kepler-oort-cloud/ |title=Scientific American – Kepler Spacecraft May Be Able to Spot Elusive Oort Cloud Objects – 2010 |website=[[Scientific American]] |access-date=2015-11-05 |archive-date=2020-12-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218110849/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/kepler-oort-cloud/ |url-status=live }}</ref>