Comment by api
2 days ago
Rendezvous with one of these would be a good use for a NERVA-type nuclear engine (upper stage, not used in the atmosphere).
Also seems like the thing to do, given that we are finding more than one of these now, is to build such a thing and have it on standby and look for one that's inbound so we can launch at the best window to reach it.
Even with a NERVA engine it's a LOT of work to get to the 26 kmps of an object like ʻOumuamua so you're still at the mercy of planets being in roughly the right locations to provide some gravity assists. I think it would widen the workable solutions but something like the 10 SR assist could work with things we've actually built already.
to build a thing would be astonishingly lucky for it be parked in the right place to catch the next one, so where would you park it? seems like it would be better to build a lot of them, and park them through out in various orbits so maybe one of them has a chance to rendezvous
I was thinking park it on Earth. Have something ready to launch that consists of a very spicy nuclear upper stage to yeet a small probe at very high speed.
The whole upper stages assembly and probe could be sitting there ready to be sent up on a Falcon Heavy or Starship class booster. Might even use an expendable launch to send the upper stage into the highest energy trajectory possible.
I wonder how small you could make the probe vs how big the booster and upper stages assembly could be and how fast such a thing could be yeet. I’m thinking even a glorified cubesat size thing paired with a whole lot of rocket.
It wouldn’t slow down. It would be a flyby. But it would get us high resolution images and scans and spectroscopic readings, and if one of these visitors was artificial that would become quite obvious with a good picture.