Interstellar Asteroid Mission

[Mike_Moody]

A recent study that appeared in my news app stated that a team of astronomers had found a group of asteroids orbiting out of the plane of the ecliptic. The astronomers concluded that this group of asteroids had been captured early in our star's history from another star. One of them was an object over a hundred miles in diameter. I think the space agencies should get together and design a space mission to this set of rocks and develop base line data on all the characteristics of the asteroids just as the Dawn mission did, I have no idea how long such a mission would take or the size or cost. That would be something that the scientists would determine in a design definition project.

 

[Mental Avenger]

A recent study that appeared in my news app stated that a team of astronomers had found a group of asteroids orbiting out of the plane of the ecliptic. The astronomers concluded that this group of asteroids had been captured early in our star's history from another star. One of them was an object over a hundred miles in diameter. I think the space agencies should get together and design a space mission to this set of rocks and develop base line data on all the characteristics of the asteroids just as the Dawn mission did, I have no idea how long such a mission would take or the size or cost. That would be something that the scientists would determine in a design definition project.

I doubt that there is any way to determine the origin of something that far out. To date, we cannot even prove by observation the Oort cloud even exists. With current technology, it could take 10-15-20 years to get a probe out that far, and never be able to program it or control it to get close enough to recover any reliable data from even one object.

 

[Geomartian]

asteroids had been captured early in our star's history from another star

early in our star's history ….

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Instead of a deadly threat hanging above our heads it is placed into the fog shrouded past and sprinkled with glitter.

Depending on the size cutoff there could be dozens of interstellar bodies in the solar system.

Another problem with high inclination and reverse orbits is relatively short survival times. The impact velocity (differential) for these orbits (with the other 99.999% of the systems mass) tends to destroy the asteroid or comet. So much for early in our star's history.

When we develop serious 100 meter telescopes in space we can examine the detailed spectra for these interstellar candidates. If any of them exhibit properties indicating an artificial origin then definitely send the USCSS Nostromo.

 

[AsteroidAware]

I think the space agencies should get together and design a space mission to this set of rocks and develop base line data on all the characteristics of the asteroids just as the Dawn mission did,

Absolutely! There are some significant technological challenges to be overcome such as ease of navigation (in space), low-cost spacecraft etc., but setting a challenge like this can provide another push of research and development in the right direction

 

[dfjchem721]

To date, we cannot even prove by observation the Oort cloud even exists.

And there is good reason to believe that if it does exist, it is an Oort Mist rather than a cloud. Many believe if anything exists that far out, it is being replenished by the Hills Cloud*, and is not a static reservoir. The Hills Cloud is, loosely, a distant but separate "extension" of the KB in that it largely resides along the ecliptic, and is much closer to the sun than any hypothetical Oort Cloud. The Hills Cloud is projected to have trillions of icy, comet-type bodies.

The Oort cloud is much more contentious, particularly notions that it extends out to 3 ly. If there really is/was a spherical Oort Cloud and it was at the projected extreme distances from the sun, it does not stand to reason that much of it would remain after 4.5 billion years of traveling through the galaxy, with gravitational perturbations from within and without the solar system.

Picking out any interstellar objects from the "native" bodies would not be easy. And their numbers are not expected to be very high. Funding for such a mission, to a hypothetical object, would be difficult to obtain. Perhaps high resolution telescopes of the future could resolve any issues of identity or origin.

And many (more than likely) "native" objects orbit outside the ecliptic. These are found in the Scattered Disc**, or are defined as "Detached Objects"***.



* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hills_cloud


** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scattered_Disc


*** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detached_object