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Given how weird, and apparently unexplainable, various aspects of this object are, shouldn't we be moving heaven and earth to investigate the possibility of som

Given how weird, and apparently unexplainable, various aspects of this object are, shouldn't we be moving heaven and earth to investigate the possibility of some kind of mission to it? From what I've read, there are ideas at least for how we might launch a spacecraft capable of catching up with it. Given the potential of what we could learn, wouldn't that be a better way to spend a few billion dollars than a return to the moon? (of course, ideally we'd do both, but...)

savrajsingh 8y ago
We can’t catch it, but we’re on the lookout for the next one
- yeswecould 8y ago
  We could catch it with a bigger, faster lightsail
TangoTrotFox 8y ago
This is one of the biggest motivations for going (and staying) on the Moon, Mars, and so on. Going after this object is not just an issue of money. Intercepting objects in space is really hard. Intercepting objects that are hauling ass away and have already shown an ability to exhibit let's say 'aberrant acceleration', when we don't currently have the technology developed, let alone tested and refined, to intercept it makes the entire idea perhaps not impossible, but extremely unlikely to succeed. By contrast when we have ships moving regularly between Earth, Mars, the Moon, and wherever else - we'll have much more infrastructure and technological development enabling us to have a much better chance of being able to rapidly react to the next 'weird thing' we see in space. And seeing how many weird things we're already starting to observe now that we've just barely begun to be able to open our eyes, I expect this is just the beginning. Consider we still lack the technology to determine whether or not there is some giant super-earth floating around in our own solar system. Sometimes in space it's much easier to see things billions of light years away than it it is to see something right next door.

savrajsingh 8y ago

We can’t catch it, but we’re on the lookout for the next one

yeswecould 8y ago
We could catch it with a bigger, faster lightsail

TangoTrotFox 8y ago

This is one of the biggest motivations for going (and staying) on the Moon, Mars, and so on. Going after this object is not just an issue of money. Intercepting objects in space is really hard. Intercepting objects that are hauling ass away and have already shown an ability to exhibit let's say 'aberrant acceleration', when we don't currently have the technology developed, let alone tested and refined, to intercept it makes the entire idea perhaps not impossible, but extremely unlikely to succeed. By contrast when we have ships moving regularly between Earth, Mars, the Moon, and wherever else - we'll have much more infrastructure and technological development enabling us to have a much better chance of being able to rapidly react to the next 'weird thing' we see in space. And seeing how many weird things we're already starting to observe now that we've just barely begun to be able to open our eyes, I expect this is just the beginning. Consider we still lack the technology to determine whether or not there is some giant super-earth floating around in our own solar system. Sometimes in space it's much easier to see things billions of light years away than it it is to see something right next door.