Solar-sailing sentries could allow up-close study of interstellar visitors like 'Oumuamua

[Judi Lynn]

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

[lastlib]

1. Interesting idea! (Be sure to check their light curves....)

If they don't have one, we have something interesting......

"First, there was the problem of Rama's light curve. It didn't have one....Either (Rama) was perfectly symmetrical, or it wasn't spinning at all. Both explanations seemed unlikely...."