3 ms·
The caveat to Voyager 1 is that it was launched during an ideal window and performed a pair of gravity-assist slingshot maneuvers, and took 30 years to do it.
by paulmd 9y ago
The caveat to Voyager 1 is that it was launched during an ideal window and performed a pair of gravity-assist slingshot maneuvers, and took 30 years to do it. That is right out of the question as far as this intercept is concerned. It's direct-ascent or bust.
There is no chance of accelerating anything with any substantial mass to that velocity. Hence me plugging starshot - the only chance of us catching up to it with anything at this point is for it to be fairyweight or atomically powered.
The object has already slingshotted, we're mostly boned at this point. Unless we act now, with a cunning plan, we will never learn anything about this object in particular. Even still, we really can't put much onto any hypothetical probe.
- Gravityloss 9y agoYou could put more smaller upper stages to some big rockets. And finally tank the spacecraft itself with a lot of hydrazine so it can fo course corrections later. There is another option though. There's a tanker version of Musk's BFR being designed for filling up Mars bound rockets or propellant depots in low earth orbit. You could instead refill the tanker or two or three and stage them. Or use the Mars bound stage.
- namlem 9y agoWe don't need something with substantial mass though. We could send a really minimal probe with no landing capability to take close up images.