Catching an Interstellar Wanderer with a Solar Sling ⚡ экспресс
The third interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is speeding away, and direct missions are already too late. But researchers have modeled a workaround using an Oberth solar maneuver — a slingshot right next to the Sun where your engine is most efficient. The best bet: launch in 2035, skim just 3.2 solar radii off the Sun, and rendezvous with the object 35–50 years later. The spacecraft weighs roughly 500 kg, with thrust from solid rocket boosters or an on-orbit-refueled Starship Block 3. The main trade-off? Part of the payload goes to thermal shields for surviving the Sun’s ferocious heat.
Spinning a sling, we whirl a stone. Its speed builds, and if released at the lowest point, it flies farthest. In space, the gravity of the Sun acts as the strap: the probe dives as close to the star as possible, and at the moment of maximum speed, a brief engine thrust—like a yank of the hand—gives it a huge boost.
This maneuver would allow us to catch up to the departing interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. To work, the probe must pass within just 3.2 solar radii of the Sun's center—almost through its scorching corona. At that point, the heat is thousands of times more intense than at Earth; only a powerful heat shield will save the spacecraft from destruction. If we can launch by 2035, in 35–50 years we'll get the first images and samples of matter from another planetary system.
🎯 The closest approach to the Sun is 2.2 million km. That's six times farther than the Moon, but the heat there is thousands of times more intense than in Earth's orbit.
🎬 Arthur C. Clarke in 'The Wind from the Sun' sent yachts racing to the Sun for a prize, and now we're turning the star itself into a fiery sling for a chase.