Two extrasolar objects, 1I/’Oumuamua, 2I/Borisov, have handed by means of our residence system in simply the final three years. Such interstellar objects present a beforehand unexpected probability to straight pattern bodily materials from different stellar techniques.
By analyzing these interlopers, we will purchase knowledge and deduce details about their planetary system of origin, planetary formation, galactic evolution and presumably even molecular biosignatures and even clues about panspermia. On this paper, we present that missions to interstellar objects could be carried out with current or near-term expertise, demonstrating that completely different classes of missions to various kinds of interstellar objects are possible throughout the subsequent decade.
We current three classes of missions: quick flybys, ideally mixed with an impactor to pattern the floor, rendezvous missions with orbiter or lander, and a quick flyby returning samples generated by high-velocity impactor(s). We current exemplary situations for these mission classes. A mixture of Falcon Heavy or House Launch System, chemical propulsion, and Parker Photo voltaic Probe-derived heatshield expertise could be enough for quick flybys. For a rendezvous, photo voltaic electrical propulsion would even be wanted. For pattern return, nuclear thermal propulsion could be required as properly. The minimal suite of onboard devices for answering questions concerning the origin of those objects is a digicam and mass spectrometer.
Andreas M. Hein, T. Marshall Eubanks, Adam Hibberd, Dan Fries, Jean Schneider, Manasvi Lingam, Robert Kennedy, Nikolaos Perakis, Bernd Dachwald, Pierre Kervella
Feedback: Mission Idea White Paper submitted to the 2023-2032 Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey
Topics: Instrumentation and Strategies for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); House Physics (physics.space-ph)
Cite as: arXiv:2008.07647 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:2008.07647v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this model)
Submission historical past
From: Andreas M. Hein
[v1] Mon, 17 Aug 2020 22:10:58 UTC (790 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.07647
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