Researchers want to build a spacecraft to lurk in far-Earth orbit and chase down interstellar objects as they whizz through the solar system.
A team of scientists has proposed building an"interstellar interceptor," a spacecraft capable of getting up-close and personal with the next asteroid or comet to enter the solar system.
To get around this problem, researchers drafted and submitted a proposal to the arXiv preprint database on Nov. 3. Their study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, suggests that a space agency, such as NASA, should build and launch an interstellar interceptor that can wait patiently in far-Earth orbit. Then, once astronomers detect an incoming interstellar object,the probe can rapidly fly off to intercept the invader on its path through the solar system.
The team have identified the L2 Lagrange point, which is also home to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, as the best place to park the spacecraft because it will allow the probe to intercept a wide range of potential trajectories that alien space rocks may take through our cosmic neighborhood.
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