The end result is unknown; a simple estimation would have all the matter and space-time in the universe collapse into a dimensionless singularity back into how the universe started with the Big Bang, but at these scales unknown quantum effects need to be considered (see Quantum gravity).

The total entropy of the observable universe is correspondingly higher, and is Sobs = 3.1+3.0−1.7 × 10104 k.

If the Universe holds enough matter, including dark matter, the combined gravitational attraction of everything will gradually halt this expansion and precipitate the ultimate collapse. Over time, galaxies, then individual stars, will smash into each other more frequently, killing off any life on nearby planets.

Your spacecraft would be much heavier, and much larger than this one, and you would still be limited in fuel, oxygen, water, and food. You would have to plan to return to the Earth before you left the launch pad.

After fusing helium in its core to carbon, the Sun will begin to collapse again, evolving into a compact white dwarf star after ejecting its outer atmosphere as a planetary nebula. The predicted final mass is 54.1% of the present value, most likely consisting primarily of carbon and oxygen.

But in about 5 billion years, the sun will run out of hydrogen. Our star is currently in the most stable phase of its life cycle and has been since the birth of our solar system, about 4.5 billion years ago.

4.5 billion years

Our planet’s ultimate destiny is to be baked, blasted, and eventually disintegrated. There’s nothing we can do to prevent this cataclysm. Yet according to scientists who study the far future, including Yale University astronomer Gregory Laughlin, the prospect for life is, oddly, rather bright.

Humanity has a 95% probability of being extinct in 7,800,000 years, according to J. Richard Gott’s formulation of the controversial Doomsday argument, which argues that we have probably already lived through half the duration of human history.

In about 5.5 billion years the Sun will run out of hydrogen and begin expanding as it burns helium. It will swap from being a yellow giant to a red giant, expanding beyond the orbit of Mars and vaporizing Earth—including the atoms that make-up you.