Successor to 3I/ATLAS: Space probe could visit interstellar comet
It is too late to visit the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, but successors are within reach. This has been confirmed by a research team from the USA.
Image of 3I/ATLAS taken with different color filters
(Image: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/K. Meech (IfA/U. Hawaii)Image Processing: Jen Miller & Mahdi Zamani (NSF NOIRLab))
A research team from the USA says it has developed the concept for a space probe that could visit an interstellar comet like 3I/ATLAS as it passes through the solar system. The design was developed at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), but the research facility has not made the details public. Instead, the announcement only states that the mission, including the research instruments, could have visited the interstellar comet currently hurtling through the solar system. By this they mean a flyby of the celestial body. The technology currently available would not be sufficient to put it into orbit.
Flyby yes, orbit no
(Image:Â Courtesy of NASA/ESA/UCLA/MPS)
The orbit of 3I/ATLAS is within the interceptable range of the elaborated mission, Matthew Freeman from SwRI Â explains. In this case, the proposed space probe would be accelerated to the orbit of Mars and then race directly towards the interstellar comet from the front. During the flyby, a large amount of data could then be collected that could provide unprecedented insights into the composition, structure and other properties of such a celestial body. This would reveal, for example, how they form in other planetary systems. According to the research facility, the mission design was already conceived before the discovery of 3I/ATLAS. It is encouraging that the space probe could have visited the comet.
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3I/ATLAS was discovered in early July by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Chile. The interstellar comet is only the third ever visitor to our solar system to be discovered during the flyby. When 3I/ATLAS reaches its closest point to the sun in the fall and loses a lot of material in the process, analyses from Earth will be extremely difficult or impossible due to its position. For this reason, one research team has already argued in favor of using space probes distributed throughout the solar system for observations. The SwRI's work, which has not yet been made public, now makes it clear that it would also be possible to explore such a celestial body directly in the future, provided the right preparations are made.
(mho)
