Interstellar probe: Has its time finally come?

[Admin]

Launching an interstellar probe sounds exceedingly lofty, ambitious, and tough to do. But there's no need to wait for new technology, say advocates.

Interstellar probe: Has its time finally come? : Read more

 

[Unclear Engineer]

Realistically, that 1000 AU in 50 years still only gets us half way out to the expected inner edge of the Oort Cloud.

I wonder how much more Δv we could muster for such a mission in another decade or 2. Rather than sending the whole propulsion system and probe up with one huge booster, it seems that we will have the capability to assemble propulsion stages and probes in space in the not so distant future. How much Δv could we provide if we put a probe on the end of an assembly of propulsion stages that were each separately launched into Earth orbit by the SpaceX "Super Heavy" first stage? What about that fusion rocket motor that NASA wants to demonstrate within a few years?

I am imaging this "interstellar probe" not making it to the heliopause before the next probe passes it.

So, realistically, the science goals for the first couple of decades have to be worth the mission cost, or it would probably be better to wait a bit so that we can use some better techniques than "Apollo +" technology.