Solar-sailing sentries could allow up-close study of interstellar visitors like 'Oumuamua
By Mike Wall a day ago
Chasing these interlopers down might require a novel approach.
Diagram of a proposed network of solar-sailing "statite" craft, which would look for interstellar
objects zooming through the solar system and potentially allow up-close study of such visitors.
(Image: © Diagram of a proposed network of solar-sailing "statite" craft, which would look for
interstellar objects zooming through the solar system and potentially allow up-close study of
such visitors.)
A fleet of solar-sailing sentries stationed far from the sun could someday allow scientists to get up-close looks at interstellar visitors like the mysterious 'Oumuamua.
The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program has funded a team of researchers to study the feasibility of building and deploying "statites" (short for "static satellites" ) at various points along the outer reaches of our solar system.
"Once an ISO is detected, the system can deliver a cubesat on either a flyby trajectory or on a rendezvous trajectory (with propulsion)," the research team, led by Richard Linares, an assistant professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), wrote in a description of the project. (A cubesat on the propulsion-free flyby option would rely solely on the sun's gravitational pull to direct it toward the ISO.)
This novel strategy might be the best way to get up-close looks at ISOs, team members said.
More:
https://www.space.com/solar-sailing-sentries-interstellar-objects-niac.html?utm_source=notification