NASA looking at 'hitchhiking' across solar system on speeding comets
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Re: NASA looking at 'hitchhiking' across solar system on speeding comets
#2If my harpoon allows me to accelerate/decelerate at 10g for 1 minute, I'd gain 5.9km/s. This requires a tether that's 176km long. That would be a pretty long tether; that can take a lot of weight.
But lunar orbit insertion requires a delta-v of only 2km/s. Maybe one day, on the far side of the moon there will be a great magnetic hook that space ships will shoot their harpoon at in order to quickly insert into moon's orbit.
Re: NASA looking at 'hitchhiking' across solar system on speeding comets
#3Seems quite odd to me. Last (and first) time something landed on a comet it didn't go as planned. Harpoon's fault. Maybe a fishcakes grab isn't the best solution, maybe done magnetic one?