What happens to space probes?

Space probes are unmanned spacecraft designed to travel beyond Earth's orbit and gather data about celestial bodies. Once they complete their missions, many probes either continue to drift in space, potentially becoming space debris, or enter a stable orbit around the Sun or another body. Some, like Voyager 1 and 2, are still transmitting data back to Earth after decades of travel. Others, such as the Mars rovers, may eventually cease operations when their equipment fails or power sources are depleted.