Is it possible to get a probe out that far in time to make a good intercept?
I imagine with this (relatively) short notice this is cutting it a bit close to orchestrate a proper orbital insertion by a designed, manufactured and tested program?
I imagine with this (relatively) short notice this is cutting it a bit close to orchestrate a proper orbital insertion by a designed, manufactured and tested program?
All our normal expectations for probe arrival times and such are based on one-shot launches, straight out of Earth's gravity well into escape velocity in one shot. It's not like launching with fuel suddenly makes it a two-day trip or anything, but it can do quite a bit of shortening and allow for quite a lot more maneuvering.
This is one of the next touchstones in space progress I've been looking for. A lot of previously impractical things become practical if we can routinely do multilaunches.
Hmmm, can we make 11au?? I think so.
Voyager 1 has been flying for over 43 years [0]. In that time it went over 150 AU. This averages about 3.5 AU/year. It took, from start of project to launch, about 5 years (1972 - 1977 [1]).
If this body is going to be 11 AU away in 10 years away we'd need to move at an average 2.2 AU/year and hit the right launch windows.
I think that it falls into the "yes, it's possible" but not into the "of course it's possible, how could you even ask" category.
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1
[1] - https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/timeline/#event-voyager...