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If I remember correctly Voyager benefitted from a particular alignment of the planets to get multiple slingshot boosts from gravity wells. Part of the appeal o

If I remember correctly Voyager benefitted from a particular alignment of the planets to get multiple slingshot boosts from gravity wells. Part of the appeal of the mission was that it will be a very long time before we could possibly do this again because the planets won't line up correctly and we have no technology to speed the probes up to the velocities that the voyager probes achieved.

nonethewiser 3y ago
> Voyager benefitted from a particular alignment of the planets to get multiple slingshot boosts from gravity wells. What exactly does that get us? It gets further into space faster? It travels faster? Cheaper to launch? I mean if it just means it leaves the solar system 20 years faster or something then it seems like cheaper launches far outweigh those favorable conditions.
- Abekkus 3y ago
  Looks like once you escape earths orbit at 11km/s, you still need another 30km/s delta-v to then escape the solar system
  - p1esk 3y ago
    Why do we need any additional speed to escape the solar system?
    - CSMastermind 3y ago
      Because the Sun has its own gravity well you need to get out of. Lots of things could be fast enough to escape the pull of the Earth but not the Sun (like all the other things besides Earth that orbit it)
  - fnordpiglet 3y ago
    I thought it was 12 km/s. 30km/s is what’s required to fall into the sun, which is considerably more than escaping the solar system.
  - eimrine 3y ago
    I love the fact that one of them has launched radially and another tangentially, it will be interesting to look at the orbit of each Voyager when they finish a full rotation around the Sun.
- hatsunearu 3y ago
  You need a lot of speed to go into space really fast. When you fly your spacecraft really close to a planet and let it get influenced by its gravity, you let the planet transfer some of its massive amounts of kinetic energy into your spacecraft, which can add to its kinetic energy (and also help the spacecraft change direction) You're essentially stealing some kinetic energy from planets to sling your spacecraft faster.
- imoverclocked 3y ago
  The delta-v for a mission like this is pretty incredible. Voyager 1 is still traveling at about 17km/s away from the sun. That's not much less than when it left Earth despite traveling so far away from the Sun... only because of the special gravity assists it did on the way out. There are some things that even money can't solve :) Compared to a planet, a spacecraft is almost negligible in both weight and capability to accelerate in space. Ion engines are pretty cool though; Maybe we can do it today but it will take a lot longer to get there. Of course, if it takes too long, we may not have a viable spacecraft by the time it gets there. Furthermore, even if do have a viable spacecraft, we might not have the knowhow to work with the technology that we sent in the first place.
  - drivers99 3y ago
    Trying to wrap my head around that speed. It could go the distance of the Earth to the moon in a little less than 6 hours and 20 minutes.
- pndy 3y ago
  This is the Project Lyra [1], where a UK-registered not-for-profit company suggest sending a spacecraft to catch-up with ʻOumuamua object that pass thru solar system in 2017, by using orbital mechanic. Spacecraft set off at right window would speed up using gravity assist maneuver [2] around objects in the solar system and save a lot of fuel to hopefully reach 'Oumuamua in 26 years [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Lyra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Lyra [2] - https://vid.pr0gramm.com/2023/12/11/99b60d87a3679fe0-vp9.mp4 https://vid.pr0gramm.com/2023/12/11/99b60d87a3679fe0-vp9.mp4
  - mitsu_at 3y ago
    related thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38598284 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38598284

nonethewiser 3y ago

> Voyager benefitted from a particular alignment of the planets to get multiple slingshot boosts from gravity wells. What exactly does that get us? It gets further into space faster? It travels faster? Cheaper to launch? I mean if it just means it leaves the solar system 20 years faster or something then it seems like cheaper launches far outweigh those favorable conditions.

Abekkus 3y ago
Looks like once you escape earths orbit at 11km/s, you still need another 30km/s delta-v to then escape the solar system
- p1esk 3y ago
  Why do we need any additional speed to escape the solar system?
  - CSMastermind 3y ago
    Because the Sun has its own gravity well you need to get out of. Lots of things could be fast enough to escape the pull of the Earth but not the Sun (like all the other things besides Earth that orbit it)
- fnordpiglet 3y ago
  I thought it was 12 km/s. 30km/s is what’s required to fall into the sun, which is considerably more than escaping the solar system.
- eimrine 3y ago
  I love the fact that one of them has launched radially and another tangentially, it will be interesting to look at the orbit of each Voyager when they finish a full rotation around the Sun.
hatsunearu 3y ago
You need a lot of speed to go into space really fast. When you fly your spacecraft really close to a planet and let it get influenced by its gravity, you let the planet transfer some of its massive amounts of kinetic energy into your spacecraft, which can add to its kinetic energy (and also help the spacecraft change direction) You're essentially stealing some kinetic energy from planets to sling your spacecraft faster.
imoverclocked 3y ago
The delta-v for a mission like this is pretty incredible. Voyager 1 is still traveling at about 17km/s away from the sun. That's not much less than when it left Earth despite traveling so far away from the Sun... only because of the special gravity assists it did on the way out. There are some things that even money can't solve :) Compared to a planet, a spacecraft is almost negligible in both weight and capability to accelerate in space. Ion engines are pretty cool though; Maybe we can do it today but it will take a lot longer to get there. Of course, if it takes too long, we may not have a viable spacecraft by the time it gets there. Furthermore, even if do have a viable spacecraft, we might not have the knowhow to work with the technology that we sent in the first place.
- drivers99 3y ago
  Trying to wrap my head around that speed. It could go the distance of the Earth to the moon in a little less than 6 hours and 20 minutes.
pndy 3y ago
This is the Project Lyra [1], where a UK-registered not-for-profit company suggest sending a spacecraft to catch-up with ʻOumuamua object that pass thru solar system in 2017, by using orbital mechanic. Spacecraft set off at right window would speed up using gravity assist maneuver [2] around objects in the solar system and save a lot of fuel to hopefully reach 'Oumuamua in 26 years [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Lyra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Lyra [2] - https://vid.pr0gramm.com/2023/12/11/99b60d87a3679fe0-vp9.mp4 https://vid.pr0gramm.com/2023/12/11/99b60d87a3679fe0-vp9.mp4
- mitsu_at 3y ago
  related thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38598284 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38598284