3 ms·

I wonder why don’t we send more probes like that in every direction by dozens?

• throwaway894345 5y ago
  I was thinking it would be interesting to send a stream of them out in one direction (or many streams) with the idea that they could serve as a relay/mesh network, allowing us to communicate with the probes (and vice versa) for longer. Not sure how valuable that would be scientifically.
• dredmorbius 5y ago
  There's not much, in every direction, for a long ways. It makes more sense, generally, to send probes to where things (planets, moons, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets) are, that we can reach in reasonable time (years, possibly a decade or more for outer targets). "Every direction" just takes you to deep space. And that's not going to be particularly illuminating, though a few such probes (say, a high- or low-solar plane one) might be interesting.
  • f6v 5y ago
    Oort cloud is still not confirmed, right? I get that it might be incredibly sparse, but isn't there anything to study there?
    • dredmorbius 5y ago
      Oort is (mostly) in the solar plane AFAIU, and there's every reason to use gravity assist to get there. I don't know that any specific objects are known, and getting into an Oort-observing orbit might be challenging. Otherwise, yesm it's sparse and arbitrary flybys would likely miss anything interesting. Spraying random probes in all directions makes lttle sense. Voyager 1 won't reach the Oort Cloud, if it in fact exists, for another three centuries.
      • Beldin 5y ago
        I think you're mixing up the Kuiper Belt with the Oort Cloud. Kuiper Belt is in the plane, and within the Oort cloud. Oort cloud is a sphere. At least, according to ESA [1]. [1] https://esahubble.org/images/opo0204i/ https://esahubble.org/images/opo0204i/
        • dredmorbius 5y ago
          Hence my hedge, mostly. Though this is well outside my area of expertise.