P089-10
A Close Encounter with an Interstellar Visitor

Thursday, 17 December 2020: 05:57
Virtual
Louis Friedman1, Darren Garber2, Artur Davoyan3, Slava G Turyshev4, Nahum Melamed5 and John McVey5, (1)Retired, Washington, DC, United States, (2)Xplore, Inc., Seattle, WA, United States, (3)University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, United States, (4)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (5)Aerospace Corporation El Segundo, El Segundo, United States
Abstract:
A proposed smallsat/ solar sail mission concept is to intercept and even potentially rendezvous with a newly discovered Interstellar Object (ISO) is described. The mission concept derives from a technology test proposal for exiting the solar system at high velocity, eventually to reach the solar gravity lens focus. The ISO mission concept is to fly a solar sail inward toward the Sun and when the ISO orbit is confirmed target the sailcraft around the Sun to a velocity >6 Au/year. This would permit rapid response to a new discovery. Two new proven interplanetary technologies are utilized to enable such a mission: Interplanetary Smallsats, such as MarCO, and Solar Sails, such as LightSail and NEA Scout. Current technology work suggests such a mission could fly and reach the ISO within this decade. Such a mission might be the first encounter with an ISO – imaging, spectroscopy, size and mass will be measured, potentially giving information about the object’s origin and composition.
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