Related papers: Catching 3I/ATLAS Using a Solar Oberth
Spacecraft kinematics, peak perihelion temperature and space environment effects during solar-radiation-pressure acceleration for a beryllium hollow-body interstellar solar sail inflated with hydrogen fill gas are investigated. We…
If the signals that are being sought in SETI programs do exist but are very brief, for example because they are produced intermittently to conserve energy, then it is essential to know when these signals will arrive at the Earth. Different…
With the recent discoveries of interstellar objects `Oumuamua and Borisov traversing the solar system, understanding the dynamics of interstellar objects is more pressing than ever. These detections have highlighted the possibility that…
We present the first spectroscopic characterization of an interstellar object at mid-infrared wavelengths. Post-perihelion observations of 3I/ATLAS using the JWST/MIRI medium-resolution spectrometer were obtained on 2025 December 15--16 and…
We present calibrated ATLAS photometry of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1) from 28 March through 29 Aug 2025, obtained with the five-site, robotic ATLAS network in the c (420-650~nm), o (560-820~nm), and Teide w (420-720~nm)…
The solar photon pressure provides a viable source of thrust for spacecraft in the solar system. Theoretically it could also enable interstellar missions, but an extremely small mass per cross section area is required to overcome the solar…
Consuming long-range interplanetary medium with fuel for driving plasma thrust is vital. Methods of capturing the space environment depending on its density and the ship velocity are indispensable issues to extract the space environment as…
In mid-August 2025, 0.75-5.0 micron SPHEREx imaging spectrophotometric and ancillary NASA-IRTF SpeX 0.7-2.5 micron low-resolution spectral observations of Interstellar Object 3I ATLAS were obtained. The combined spectrophotometry is…
PILOT (the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope is a proposed 2.5 m optical/infrared telescope to be located at DomeC on the Antarctic plateau. The atmospheric conditions at Dome C deliver a high sensitivity, high…
In Coulomb drag propulsion, a long high voltage tether or system of tethers gathers momentum from a natural plasma stream such as solar wind or ionospheric plasma ram flow. A positively polarised tether in the solar wind can be used for…
We discuss the in-flight autonomous assembly as the means to build advanced planetary science payloads to explore the outer regions of the solar system. These payloads are robotically constructed from modular parts delivered by a group of…
Self-Organizing Map (SOM) is a promising tool for exploring large multi-dimensional data sets. It is quick and convenient to train in an unsupervised fashion and, as an outcome, it produces natural clusters of data patterns. An example of…
A propulsion concept in which a spacecraft interacts with high-velocity pellets and the interstellar medium is proposed. The pellets are slower than the spacecraft and are accelerated backwards as they are overtaken, imparting a forward…
We present a detailed analysis of the trajectory of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, focusing on its non-gravitational acceleration (NGA) parameters and their uncertainties. Orbital solutions are computed with models that implement…
We simulate the passage through the Sun-Jupiter system of interstellar objects (ISOs) similar to 1I/`Oumuamua or 2I/Borisov. Capture of such objects is rare and overwhelmingly from low incoming speeds onto orbits akin to those of known…
Using the "statite," or static-satelite, concept -- an artificial satellite capable of hovering in place using a solar sail -- this work proposes to create a dynamic orbital slingshot in anticipation of Interstellar Objects (ISOs) passing…
The present OSS mission continues a long and bright tradition by associating the communities of fundamental physics and planetary sciences in a single mission with ambitious goals in both domains. OSS is an M-class mission to explore the…
Using ion measurements from Ultra-Low-Energy Isotope Spectrometer (ULEIS) observations onboard Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) and Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS) observations onboard the Solar Terrestrial Observatory (STEREO)-A and…
Building on the success of the French-Chinese SVOM mission, our consortium proposes CATCH (Chasing All Transients Constellation of Hunters), targeting Gamma-Ray Bursts and X-ray transients. Its first step, CATCH-PM (Precursor Mission),…
Excluding speculations about future breakthrough discoveries in physics, it is shown that with what is at present known, and also what is technically feasible, manned space flight to the limits of the solar system and beyond deep into the…