I wonder if Kerbal Space Program could answer this question to a first
degree? I haven't a clue... and no idea at all about how to even plan
such a course.
Seems like an interesting discussion in any case.
Or to make it more concrete, what would it take to catch up with
Voyager and give it some more juice? That's a well know trajectory
and might be more amebale to BOTE calcs.
Heck, this looks to be the (possibly) quickest and easiest tool to
mock up a system design.
https://software.nasa.gov/software/GSC-16824-1
Evolutionary Mission Trajectory Generator (EMTG)
EMTG is a global trajectory optimization tool intended for
interplanetary mission design. The technology automatically searches
for the optimal sequence of planetary flybys and propulsive maneuvers
for maximizing payload delivery at a destination. Designed for minimal
user oversight, EMTG requires only start location, destination,
allowable launch-date range, allowable flight time, and minimal
spacecraft hardware information.
William> A second level of analysis might find different, but this is
William> an amateur forum....
William> On Fri, Feb 26, 2021 at 4:24 PM Henry Vanderbilt
<hvanderbilt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
William> I'm thoroughly in favor of catching and taking a far closer look
at Oumuamua. Even if it
William> isn't an artifact, it's weird enough that we're bound to learn
something new and interesting.
William> It had never occurred to me to even ask if the mission might
actually be in the same county as
William> current SOTA though - thanks for that!
William> I have no answers, mind. But another useful question occurs: How
massy a combination of
William> telescope and terminal propulsion will this mission need to
reliably spot Oumuamua early
William> enough to have time to correct course for a close flyby? This
would seem central to sizing
William> the spacecraft. (Or multiple spacecraft, if the location
uncertainties point toward a shotgun
William> approach, or perhaps toward some sort of
initial-locator/followup-close-flyby mission.)
William> I assume some level of imprecision in our knowledge of Oumuamua's
departing course. Plus some
William> additional imprecision in our knowledge of what gravitational and
other influences there may
William> be on it over the next twenty-ish years - the major planets on its
way out should be fairly
William> predictable, but it'd suck to miss the flyby because Oumuamua did
a close pass on an unknown
William> Kuiper belt object a few years on. A first pass at defining the
likely cone of uncertainty
William> would be useful, if anyone has the tools handy for that.
William> Henry
William> On 2/26/2021 3:29 PM, William Claybaugh wrote:
William> Since we are not talking about homebuilt rockets, I was
wondering if we might talk about
William> homebuilt space missions:
William> A top level analysis suggests it would take about 60 Km / sec
to catch in about 20 years.
William> Another very top level analysis suggests that a gravity assist
at Jupiter (solely to turn
William> the plane from near ecliptic to near that of Oumuamua; near to
but less than 90 degrees)
William> followed by a 50 solar radii assist at the Sun (Parker is
doing 10 radii as I recall but
William> it carries way too much heat shield for this mission) can
pretty certainly get to 50 km /
William> sec.
William> One of NASA Glenn’s Stirling cycle RTG’s tied to an existing
commercial electric thruster
William> appears capable of making up the difference with a big fuel
tank.
William> Assuming a New Horizons-like spacecraft, but much smaller, a
flyby seems possible based on
William> this very top level analysis.
William> I’d be real interested in helpful comments.
William> Bill