completelyunprecedented.InsomesmallwayI’d
bekindofsadthatwedidn’tgotoa comet,butit
wouldbea uniqueopportunitytodothat.”
Kingagreesthatwhileitwouldbea tough
decision,thepossibilityofvisitinganinterstellar
objectwouldbetootemptingtopassup.“IthinkI
wouldtakeaninterstellarobject,”hesaid.“Itwould
bereallyamazingtogeta feelforothertypesof
materialsthatwefindoutthereintheuniverse,and
seehowthosematerialscomparetootherstuffin
ourownSolarSystem.Itwouldbea newventure.”
Findingsucha targetwillbenoeasyfeat.The
teamwillbeforcedtomakea trickydecisionwhile
waitingatL2– shouldtheygoforthefirsttarget
theysee,orwaitforthepossibilityofaneven
betterobjectinthefuture?Thatwillbedecidedin
discussionstotakeplaceoverthenextfewyears,
afterthedesignofthemissionhasbeenrefined.
ThespacecraftwillhavefundingtoremainatL2
forthreeyears.Ifinthattimetheteamdoesnot
finda suitabletarget,eithera long-periodcometor
aninterstellarobject,thentheydohaveback-up
objectstovisit,suchasa short-periodcometcalled
73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann3.Whilethiswould
belessinteresting,itisthoughttobea cometthat
hasbrokenapart,possiblyrevealingitscore.So
studyingit,whileslightlydisappointing,would
stillprovidea fascinatingopportunityfor
unprecedentedscience.
Whateverhappens,CometInterceptorisset
tobea missionlikenoother.Itisthefirsttime
a space mission will have been launched with
no specific target in mind, and it will explore an
object never seen before too. Before the spacecraft
even launches, however, surveys like the LSST
are expected to throw up some potential targets,
possibly even including some interstellar objects.
It could even be that an optimal target is selected
before Comet Interceptor launches. If not, it will waitpatiently before heading out for its brief but historic
encounter with an unseen world.
“We’ve done lots of simulations, and we’re pretty
confident that we will have targets we can reach,”
says Snodgrass. “If we find out they’re plentiful,
we can wait for a really good one. Whereas if these
things only come along once every few years, then
we’ll go for the first one that we can.”©ESO©ESA/Hubble, NASA, ESOAbove:
Objects from
other stars
may regularly
approach
our Sun – we
just need to
find them
Right:
The mission
could explore
an interstellar
object like
‘Oumuamua for
the first time
Comet Interceptor