The Feasibility of a Spacecraft Flyby with the Third Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS from Earth or Mars
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| author | Yaginuma, Atsuhiro Frincke, Tessa Seligman, Darryl Z. Mandt, Kathleen DellaGiustina, Daniella N. Peña-Asensio, Eloy Taylor, Aster G. Nolan, Michael C. |
| author_facet | Yaginuma, Atsuhiro Frincke, Tessa Seligman, Darryl Z. Mandt, Kathleen DellaGiustina, Daniella N. Peña-Asensio, Eloy Taylor, Aster G. Nolan, Michael C. |
| contents | We investigate the feasibility of a spacecraft mission to conduct a flyby of 3I/ATLAS, the third macroscopic interstellar object discovered on July 1 2025, as it traverses the Solar System. There are both ready-to-launch spacecraft currently in storage on Earth, such as Janus, and spacecraft nearing the end of their missions at Mars. We calculate minimum $ΔV$ single-impulse direct transfer trajectories to 3I/ATLAS both from Earth and from Mars. We consider launch dates spanning January 2025 through March 2026 to explore obtainable and hypothetical mission scenarios. Post-discovery Earth departures require a challenging $ΔV\gtrsim24$ km s$^{-1}$ to fly by 3I/ATLAS. By contrast, Mars departures from July 2025 - September 2025 require $ΔV\sim5$ km s$^{-1}$ to achieve an early October flyby -- which is more feasible with existing propulsion capabilities. \added{We further calculate the phase angle and flyby velocity for these trajectories, noting that the resulting flyby speeds would impose significant observational and engineering challenges that a mission would need to overcome.} We discuss how existing spacecraft could be used to observe 3I/ATLAS and how spacecraft at other locations in the Solar System could be repurposed to visit future interstellar objects on short notice. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_15755 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | The Feasibility of a Spacecraft Flyby with the Third Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS from Earth or Mars Yaginuma, Atsuhiro Frincke, Tessa Seligman, Darryl Z. Mandt, Kathleen DellaGiustina, Daniella N. Peña-Asensio, Eloy Taylor, Aster G. Nolan, Michael C. Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics We investigate the feasibility of a spacecraft mission to conduct a flyby of 3I/ATLAS, the third macroscopic interstellar object discovered on July 1 2025, as it traverses the Solar System. There are both ready-to-launch spacecraft currently in storage on Earth, such as Janus, and spacecraft nearing the end of their missions at Mars. We calculate minimum $ΔV$ single-impulse direct transfer trajectories to 3I/ATLAS both from Earth and from Mars. We consider launch dates spanning January 2025 through March 2026 to explore obtainable and hypothetical mission scenarios. Post-discovery Earth departures require a challenging $ΔV\gtrsim24$ km s$^{-1}$ to fly by 3I/ATLAS. By contrast, Mars departures from July 2025 - September 2025 require $ΔV\sim5$ km s$^{-1}$ to achieve an early October flyby -- which is more feasible with existing propulsion capabilities. \added{We further calculate the phase angle and flyby velocity for these trajectories, noting that the resulting flyby speeds would impose significant observational and engineering challenges that a mission would need to overcome.} We discuss how existing spacecraft could be used to observe 3I/ATLAS and how spacecraft at other locations in the Solar System could be repurposed to visit future interstellar objects on short notice. |
| title | The Feasibility of a Spacecraft Flyby with the Third Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS from Earth or Mars |
| topic | Earth and Planetary Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.15755 |