The distances to other stars are depressingly enormous. Sure, it’s incredibly far to get to Mars, Jupiter, and even Pluto, but at least you can design a robotic spacecraft to make the journey and see the science results in your own lifetime.
But in the case of other stars, interstellar flight times will take thousands and even tens of thousands of years to send just a robotic mission.
Fortunately, the Milky Way has got our back. Other star systems have been hurling comets and asteroids towards the Solar System. All we’ve got to do… is catch them.
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Team: Fraser Cain - @fcain / frasercain@gmail.com
Karla Thompson - @karlaii / https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEItkORQYd4Wf0TpgYI_1fw
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References:
https://news.ucsc.edu/2020/04/oumuamua.html
https://public.nrao.edu/news/alma-reveals-unusual-composition-of-interstellar-comet-2i-borisov/
http://www.esa.int/ScienceExploration/SpaceScience/ESAsnewmissiontointerceptacomet
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2020PhaseIPhaseII/DynamicOrbital_Slingshot/
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/plutofact.html
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1711/1711.03155.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0SMNucXwgo