So is ‘Oumuamua natural or artificial? First it should be understood that a clear and unequivocal answer to this can only be achieved by an in-situ examination. The artist impressions of ‘Oumuamua which have become memes on the internet generally depict ‘Oumuamua as an elongated cigar-shaped rock. This meme may have done a great deal […]
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1I/’Oumuamua. Things from the Perspective of an Interstellar Traveller.
What did ‘Oumuamua see of Earth as it encountered the inner solar system? A speck of light from a distance and, as ‘Oumuamua reached its closest approach to earth, perigee (which was at 0.16 au), a disc with dark and bright areas according to the direction of incident sunlight. Let us ignore the dramatic changes […]
1I/’Oumuamua’s Orbit As It Encountered The Inner Solar System.
I found this an interesting little exercise. Let’s look at things from ‘Oumuamua’s perspective. What phase would it have seen Earth in as it travelled along its orbital path through the inner solar system? This is quantified by a parameter known as the phase angle. What is the phase angle? When the phase angle is […]
Project Lyra: Missions to 1I/’Oumuamua with a Passive Jupiter Encounter
Adam Hibberd June 2022 Do you believe in interstellar travellers visiting us from afar? There is good news for you: a real interstellar traveller was observed by real astronomers passing through our celestial locale from late 2017 to January 2018. Unlike a great many strange objects, captured on camera as a still or film, often […]
Principium 37
The May 2022 issue of Principium, P37, is now available
Project Lyra: Presentation at SunDiver Workshop in Luxembourg
On the 17-18th of May, a workshop on “Fast, Low-Cost, Interplanetary Sailcraft Science Missions” took place in the Neimenster Abbey in Luxembourg, organized by the University of Luxembourg (SnT), Breakthrough Initiatives, and NASA-JPL. Our Executive Director Andreas Hein organized this meeting in his capacity as a professor of space systems engineering at the University of […]
Member Newsletter
Welcome to the i4is member newsletter! We have a few new items since the last newsletter.
i4is Featured in Science & Vie
Our Executive Director, Andreas Hein, has been featured in the special edition of Science & Vie, one of the major French science outlets. The article covers the topic of asteroid mining.