4 ms·

Let's say it takes us another 50 years to fund and prepare a mission, could we still catch up with it?

• adrianN 8y ago
  So far we've managed to accelerate three probes to solar escape velocity using a lucky constellation of planets for gravity assists. Catching up with an object that has a 50 year head start seems very unlikely to me unless you assume very advanced propulsion systems, e.g. nuclear pulse propulsion or something similar. Even then catching up would take a very long time, longer than anything we built survived in space so far. How do you power a probe that's supposed to travel for fifty years give or take?
• elorant 8y ago
  In 50 years it would be some 41bn kms away (it travels at a speed of 26km/s). Say you want to reach it within a five year span that would mean we'll need to build a spacecraft that could travel 0,1% the speed of light. Probably within our future capabilities considering all the theories that have been proposed for interstellar travel. For example the Breakthrough Starshot project has predictions for 10%-20% of the speed of light. Of course reaching it and landing on it, especially at these speeds, are two completely different things.
  • njarboe 8y ago
    We could revive Project Orion[1] and use up some of the world's nukes in a productive way. If there was high confidence that ’Oumuamua was an alien constructed object, I would support it. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propuls...