Catching an Interstellar Wanderer with a Solar Sling ⚡ экспресс
Original: "Catching 3I/ATLAS Using a Solar Oberth"
Scientists propose a risky plan: swoop in extremely close to the Sun to slingshot and overtake a fleeing interstellar object.
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Interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS is leaving us forever. But if you dive toward the Sun to just 3.2 of its radii and fire the engines there, you can blast off in pursuit. This isn't science fiction—calculations show that a launch in 2035 gives a chance, in 35–50 years, to see up close a piece of 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.