A fast response mission to rendezvous with an interstellar object

IF 2.7 3区物理与天体物理 Q2 ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS

Experimental Astronomy Pub Date : 2022-02-04 DOI:10.1007/s10686-022-09835-y

Darren Garber, Louis D. Friedman, Artur Davoyan, Slava G. Turyshev, Nahum Melamed, John McVey, Todd F. Sheerin

{"title":"A fast response mission to rendezvous with an interstellar object","authors":"Darren Garber, Louis D. Friedman, Artur Davoyan, Slava G. Turyshev, Nahum Melamed, John McVey, Todd F. Sheerin","doi":"10.1007/s10686-022-09835-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>A solar sail propelled small satellite mission concept to intercept and potentially rendezvous with newly discovered transient interstellar objects (ISOs) is described. The mission concept derives from the proposal for a technology demonstration mission for exiting the solar system at high velocity, eventually to reach the focal region of the solar gravitational lens. The ISO mission concept is to fly a solar sail toward a holding orbit around the Sun and when the ISO orbit is confirmed, target the sailcraft to reach an escape velocity of over 6 AU/year. This would permit rapid response to a new ISO discovery and an intercept within 10 AU from the Sun. Two new proven interplanetary technologies are utilized to enable such a mission: i) interplanetary smallsats, such as those demonstrated by the MarCO mission, and ii) solar sails, such as demonstrated by LightSail and IKAROS missions and developed for NEA Scout and Solar Cruiser missions. Current technology work suggests that already within this decade such a mission could fly and reach an ISO moving through the solar system. It might enable the first encounter with an ISO to allow for imaging and spectroscopy, measurements of size and mass, potentially giving a unique information about the object’s origin and composition. A similar approach may be used to allow for a sample return.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":551,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Astronomy","volume":"53 3","pages":"945 - 960"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7000,"publicationDate":"2022-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"6","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Experimental Astronomy","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10686-022-09835-y","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 6

Abstract

A solar sail propelled small satellite mission concept to intercept and potentially rendezvous with newly discovered transient interstellar objects (ISOs) is described. The mission concept derives from the proposal for a technology demonstration mission for exiting the solar system at high velocity, eventually to reach the focal region of the solar gravitational lens. The ISO mission concept is to fly a solar sail toward a holding orbit around the Sun and when the ISO orbit is confirmed, target the sailcraft to reach an escape velocity of over 6 AU/year. This would permit rapid response to a new ISO discovery and an intercept within 10 AU from the Sun. Two new proven interplanetary technologies are utilized to enable such a mission: i) interplanetary smallsats, such as those demonstrated by the MarCO mission, and ii) solar sails, such as demonstrated by LightSail and IKAROS missions and developed for NEA Scout and Solar Cruiser missions. Current technology work suggests that already within this decade such a mission could fly and reach an ISO moving through the solar system. It might enable the first encounter with an ISO to allow for imaging and spectroscopy, measurements of size and mass, potentially giving a unique information about the object’s origin and composition. A similar approach may be used to allow for a sample return.

查看原文本刊更多论文

与星际物体会合的快速反应任务

描述了一种太阳帆推进的小卫星任务概念，用于拦截和潜在地与新发现的瞬态星际物体(iso)交会。该任务概念源于一项技术示范任务的提议，该任务旨在以高速离开太阳系，最终到达太阳引力透镜的焦点区域。ISO的任务概念是将太阳帆飞向一个围绕太阳的固定轨道，当ISO轨道确定后，目标是使太阳帆达到超过6天文单位/年的逃逸速度。这将允许对新的ISO发现做出快速反应，并在距离太阳10个天文单位的范围内拦截。两项新的行星际技术被用来实现这样的任务:i)行星际小卫星，如MarCO任务所展示的那些;ii)太阳帆，如光帆和IKAROS任务所展示的，并为NEA Scout和太阳巡洋舰任务开发。目前的技术工作表明，在这个十年内，这样的任务已经可以飞行并到达穿越太阳系的ISO。它可能使第一次与ISO相遇，允许成像和光谱学，尺寸和质量的测量，潜在地提供关于物体起源和组成的独特信息。可以使用类似的方法来允许样本返回。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Experimental Astronomy 地学天文-天文与天体物理

CiteScore

5.30

自引率

3.30%

发文量

审稿时长

6-12 weeks

期刊介绍： Many new instruments for observing astronomical objects at a variety of wavelengths have been and are continually being developed. Furthermore, a vast amount of effort is being put into the development of new techniques for data analysis in order to cope with great streams of data collected by these instruments. Experimental Astronomy acts as a medium for the publication of papers of contemporary scientific interest on astrophysical instrumentation and methods necessary for the conduct of astronomy at all wavelength fields. Experimental Astronomy publishes full-length articles, research letters and reviews on developments in detection techniques, instruments, and data analysis and image processing techniques. Occasional special issues are published, giving an in-depth presentation of the instrumentation and/or analysis connected with specific projects, such as satellite experiments or ground-based telescopes, or of specialized techniques.